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8 U R V E Y 



GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



MIDDLE AGES, 

A.D. 476—1492! 



WILHELlffiPUTZ, 

PRINCIPAL TUTOR AT THE GYMNASIUM OF KOUST. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE LARGER WORK (IN GERMAN), 
BY 

PROFESSOR STIGELL, OF MAYNZ. 



LONDON: 
PUBLISHED BY VARTY AND OWEN, 31, STRAND, 

AND 

E. GOVER, PRINCES ST., BEDFORD ROW. 

1854. 



LONDON : 
PRINTED BY J. & W. RIDER, 14, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSI 






* / 




E? 



6& 
PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. 



The " Survey of Mediaeval Geography and History," the 
larger edition of which is now translated into English for the 
first time, by Professor Stigell, of Maynz, forms the second 
volume of a series of Histories by Professor Piitz, of the 
Catholic Gymnasium, at Koln. The most marked attention 
has been paid to the spelling of proper names, and to the 
correcting of the few historical errors which had crept into 
the German edition ; while those portions of the " Survey " 
which appeared to the Editor to be too limited to be clearly 



understood, have been extended. 



E. G. 



CONTENTS. 



1. Germany before the Migrations. 

pa&st 
§ 1. Geography of Ancient Germany, or Germany in the 

First Century of the Christian Era 1— 4 

2. State of Civilization among the Ancient Germans ... 5—14 

3. The German Wars, from the time of their Conflicts 

with the Romans until the Migrations of the Nations 15 — 23 

2. The Migrations of the Nations. 

§ 4. Dissolution of the Gothic Empire by the Huns 23 — 25 

5. General Immigration of the Germanic Races into the 

countries of the West -26 — 28 

6. Dissolution of the Hunnish Empire 28—30 



THE MIDDLE AGES. 

First Period. — From the Dissolution of the Western Roman 
Empire to the Accession of the Carlo vtngians and 
Abasstdes, 476 — 752. 

A. The West, 

§ 7. Geographical Survey of Europe at the end of the 

Fifth Century 31 

8. The West— The Kingdoms in Italy — Ostro-Goths — 

Byzantine Government in Italy — The Kingdom of 

the Langobardi (Lombards) 32 — 38 

9. The Empire of the Vandals in Africa 38—40 

10. Kingdom of the Suevi in Spain 40 

11. Empire of the Visi-Goths 40—44 

12. The Kingdom of the Burgundiones (Burgundians) in 

Gaid 44, 45 

13. The Kingdom of the Franks under the Merovingians 45 — 53 

14. Religion and Constitution of the German Nations ... 53 — 59- 



VI CONTENTS. 

B. The East. 

PAGE 

§ 15. The Eastern Roman, or Byzantine Empire under the 

Macedonian Dynasty 59 — 68 

16. The Arabians , 68 — 78 

17. The New Persian Empire 79 

C. The North-east of Europe. 
§ 18. The Sclaves or Sclavonians, 80 

Second Period. — From the Accession of the Carlovingians 
and abassides until the period of the crusades, 
752—1100. 

§ 19. Geographical Survey of Europe at the time of 

Charlemagne 81, 82 

20. The Pranconian Empire under the Carlovingians 83 — 105 

21. The Eastern Pranconian Empire under the last 

two Carlovingians 105 — 107 

22. Empire of the Eastern Pranks under Conrad I., of 

Pranconia 108, 109 

23. The German Empire under the Kings of the • 

House of Saxony 109 — 117 

24. The Grerman Empire under the Pranconian 

Emperors 117—129 

25. Italy 129—133 

26. France under the last of the Carlovingians 134 — 137 

27. Prance under the first four Capetians 137, 138 

28. England (Angle-Land) under the West Saxon 

Kings 139—141 

29. England under Danish Kings „ 141, 142 

30. Restoration and Extinction of the Anglo-Saxon 

Dynasty 142, 143 

31. Spain 144—146 

32. The Arabians under the Abassides 146 — 148 

Third Period. — The Period of the Crusades, 1096 — 1278, 

§ 33. Geographical Survey of Europe during the Period 

of the Crusades 148—150 

34. The Crusades 150—169 

35. The German Empire under Lothaire the Saxon ... 169 — -171 



CONTENTS. Vll 

PAGE 

36. The German Empire under the House of Hohen- 

staufen (or Staufen) 171—187 

37. The Interregnum in Germany 188 

38. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies 188—191 

39. France ; 191—197 

40. England under Norman Kings 197 — 207 

41. Spain (Arabian or Mohammedan) 207 — 209 

42. The Byzantine (Greek) Empire 209—211 

43. The Arabians 211 

44. The Mongols 211—213 

Fourth Period. — From the Termination of the Crusades to 
the Discovery of America, 1273 — 1492. 

A. The West. 

§ 45. The German Empire 214—238 

46. The Italian States 239—244 

47. France 244—258 

48. England and Scotland 259—271 

49. The Pyrengean Peninsula (Spain) 272—274 

B. The East. 

§ 50. The Byzantine Empire under the Paheologi 274, 275 

51. TheOsmans 275, 276 

52. The Mongols 277—280 

C. The North-east of Europe. 

§ 53. Russia 280—284 

54. Poland— Prussia 285—297 

55. Hungary 297—302 

56. Survey of the Progress of Civilization during the 

Middle Ages — Religion — Constitution — Legisla- 
tion and Government — The Sciences — Literature 
— The Arts — Commerce and Manufactures 302 — 326 

Chronological Table 327—334 



HANDBOOK 



MEDIEVAL GEOGRAPHY & HISTORY, 



INTRODUCTION. 
I. Germany before the Migrations. 

§1. 

GEOGEAPHY OF ANCIENT GEEMANY, OB, GEEMANY IN 
THE FIEST CENTUEY OF THE CHEISTIAN EEA. 

1. The Land. 

a) Name and Exten t. — Prom the time that Julius 
Caesar subdued the German tribes on the left bank of the 
Ehenus, Rhine, and united them to the Belgic Gauls, 
Eoman Germany was divided into Germania S'wperior 
(or Prima), including the territory from Basilia, Basle, to 
below Mogontiacum, Maynz or Mentz ; Germania Inferior, 
(or Secunda), along the Ehenus, Rhine from Mogontiacum, 
Maynz, to the country of the Batavi ; and Germania Magna 
(Independent or Free Germany, also called Transrhenana or 
Barbara), consisting of the country between the Ehenus, 
ffliine, Danubius, Donau, the Vistula, Weichsel, and the 
North and East Seas. 

Eoman Germany was fortified against the incursions of the Free 
Germans by a line of castles and forts, as Bingium, Bingen, Bona, 
Bonn, Colonia Agrippina, Koln or Cologne, Novesium, Neuss, Castra- 
vetera, Xanten, which, extended from the Ehenus, Rhine, below the 
Segus Fl., Sieg, to the Danubius, Donau, nearly to Eatisbona. Those 
on the Danubius, Donau, extended from Eegina-Oastra or Eatisbona, 
Megensberg, upwards to the Hungarian Forests. The Eomans also 

1 B 



MOUNTAIN'S, BITERS, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. [§ 1. 

erected detached fortresses on the other side of those two rivers at dif- 
ferent points, particularly on the Taunus Mountains in Westphalia, for 
t he protection of their frontiers, and to secure a free passage for their 
legions into the territory of the enemy. By degrees the Romans 
acquired possessions on the right bank of the Rhine, and on the left 
hank of the Donau : these, however, were distinguished from the other 
Roman G-erman provinces by the payment of tribute, and are termed 
by Tacitus, agri decumates, tribute lands. The walls, towers, and forts, 
built by the Romans formed the Yallum Romanum {Great Wall), 
which, perhaps, was once only a leading highway, such as we now find 
certain traces of in the Pfahlgraben on the Lower Rhine, and 
the Teufel's Mauer (Devil's Wall) on the Upper Rhine, which 
probably extended from Regensberg on the Donau over the Mayn and 
the Lalm, and joined the Rhine at Neuwied, and reached even to 
Siebenbergen, Transylvania. 

b) The Mountains from the Donau to the Carpathians 
were named after Hercynia, or Orcynia Suva, the Hercy- 
nian Forests. In later times, as the country became 
better known, the above name was restricted to the mountains 
of Eastern Grermany, and other designations were given 
to the remainder. Those not included in the Hyrcanian 
ranges were the Taunus, in the angle between the Rhine 
and the Mayn ; and the Teutelberg Mountains, in 
which the Amisia, Mm, the Luppia or Lippia, Lippe, and 
the Yisurgis, Weser, take their rise. 

c) The Rivers. 1, the Rhine, Rlienus. — The other 
rivers of Germany known to the ancients were the Neckar, 
Nicer, the Mayn, Mmnus, the L a h n, Logana, the S i e g, 
Segus, the Ruhr, Bur a, the L i p p e, Luppia ; 2, the 
E m s, Amisia ; 3, the Weser, Visurgis • 4, the Elbe, 
Albis, which (according to Strabo) separated Grermany into 
two halves, and the Saale, Salas; 5, the Oder, Viadrus; 
6, the "Weichsel, Vistula, which divided Grermany from 
Sarmatia ; 7, the Donau or Danube, Danubius or Ister. 
This great river formed the boundary of the Roman Alpine 
provinces, and extended itself on the left side into Grermany. 
The N a a b, Nablis, the R e g e n, Beganum, the M o r a v a, 
Mar us, the Grran, Granua, the Waag, Cusus. 

d) Soil and Productions. According to the 
Romans (whose accounts are probably much exaggerated), 
G-ermany was a wild, rugged country, almost impassable 
from the number of black forests, foul bogs, and wide- 
extended marshes with which it abounded. Eruit-trees were 
almost unknown, and the cultivated land was comparatively 

2 



THE EREE GERMANS. [§ 1. 

unproductive, the ground being covered with snow and ice 
during the greater portion of the year. 

a) The forests, particularly the oak forests, abounded with wild 
animals, many species of which are now unknown, excepting in the 
higher latitudes of the north ; as the urus, or wild ox, the elk, and the 
bear; wild horses and bears were very numerous. The tame cattle 
were prolific but of inferior size and short-horned, (non gloria frontis.) 
The horses were ill-shapen and small, but very strong and hardy. Besides 
these there were sheep, goats, swine, dogs, (hounds for the chase,) fowls, 
bees, and fish of all kinds, b) The vegetable kingdom: the 
innumerable dense forests produced a vast quantity of wood ; and many 
of the trees reached an extraordinary size. The fruits never attained 
perfection, but oats, barley, and green vegetables of all kinds, were in 
abundance, c) Of the m i n e r a 1 kingdom: silver, copper, and iron, 
(used for arms,) salt, and, on the north-eastern coast, a resinous sub- 
stance called amber, produced from the pine, congealed and hardened 
in the sea. Silver was, however, exceedingly scarce, and gold (if any) 
unsought for in the mine. 

2. The Tribes of Tree Germans. 

a) The inhabitants or people of Germania Magna (Free 
Germany) in the most remote times of which we have any 
record, were divided into tribes, each of which consisted 
of a number of families, and formed apparently a distinct 
nation. They were not, however, bound together by any 
political tie, but rather by their language, their legal cus- 
toms, their dissipated habits, and their religion. A seeming 
unity was preserved amongst them by their traditions, 
which led them to trace their common origin to one 
Manus, from whose three sons, Ingo, Isco, and Irmino, the 
three principal Germanic tribes derived their names, a 
tradition remarkably analogous in number, if not in name, 
to the Eno sh, menscli (man), Noah and his three sons, the 
four fathers of the Asiatic, European, and African races. 

A. The Free Germans. 

a) The Istsevones (West Germans) on the right bank 
of the Rhine, from Maynz to the mouth of the Tssel. 

To this branch belong (1) the Usipetes, and the Tencteri, who 
had a small strip of territory on the right bank of the Rhine from the 
isles of the Batavi nearly to Cologne ; 2) east, between the Lippe and 
the Siegmen, the Sigambri, or Sicambri; 3) the Mar si, (most 
probably) in the direction of Coesfeld ; and 4) the Bructeri, who 
dwelt on both sides of the Ems. 

b) The Xngsevones (inhabitants of the coast) dwelling 



THE STTEYIAN GEEMANS. [§ 1. 

on the borders of the North Sea, from the mouth of the 
Rhine, to the Cimbrian Peninsula, Jutland. 

1) The B a t a v i inhabited the island between the Waal and the Rhine ; 
2) the F r i e s i (or F r i s i i) from the east mouth of the Rhine to the 
Ems, and on the islands of the coast ; 3) the A m p s i v a r i i on both 
sides of the lower Ems (Amisia), whence their name ; 4) the Chauci, 
the most numerous of the Ingaevonian tribes, were located in the 
marshy country extending from the mouth of the Ems to that of the 
Elbe ; and 5) the S a x o n e s, who were east of the Elbe, in the pre- 
sent Holstein. 

c) The Hermiones (or Irmiones), inhabiting the 
central parts, south of the Ingsevones, and east of the 
Istsevones. 

To the above belonged the two confederate tribes of the C h e r u s c i, 
on both sides of the Middle Weser, and the C atti from the junction 
of the Fulda, and the Werra in the north, to the union of the Mayn 
and the Rhine in the south. 

B. The Suevian Germans. 

Prom the most remote period large masses of free Ger- 
mans, from the country between the Rhine and the North 
Sea, immigrated toward the east and south, and amalga- 
mated with the people of those countries forming the tribe 
of the Suevi. The Suevian Germans extended east to the 
"Weichsel and the Carpathian Mountains, and south to the 
Danube, where they approached the Roman provinces. 

The principal tribes of the Southern Suevi were the Hermun 
duri and the Marcomanni, between the Mayn and the Danube 
The latter tribe on the advance of the Romans in that direction with 
drew themselves from the Upper Danube, and retreated to Bohemia 
when they bordered on the Q u a d i, a Suevic tribe in the south-east 
The Eastern Suevi were the Semnones, between the Elbe and the 
Oder ; the Langobardi in the neighbourhood of the Lower Elbe, 
in the tract called Bardengau; the Burgundiones between the 
Oder and the Weichsel; and the Northern German tribe of the 
G o t o n e s, (who in the time of Caracalla appear under the name of 
Goths,) on the right bank of the Weichsel, and on the Baltic coasts. 



KELIGIOTTS NOTIONS OP THE QEEMASTS. [§ 2. 

§.2. 

STATE OF CIVILIZATION AMONG THE ANCIENT 
GERMANS. 

A. Eeligion. 

In the first century of the Christian era, the religion 
of the ancient Germans was not a rude worship of nature, 
but consisted essentially in the veneration of divinities ; 
even the idea of a most high Grod was not unknown to 
them, whilst the belief of a future and an immortal state of 
existence, where glory and honour should be conferred upon 
the brave and the virtuous, animated their breasts on the 
battle field, and nerved them in the hour of danger. 

The religious notions of the Germans bore manifest traces of an 
Oriental origin. The most exalted of their gods, and that which 
received the highest worship amongst them, was Wustan, the Odin 
of the north, and the Buddha of the east. He was regarded as the 
Almighty, Omniscient, All-creating Power, on whom depended success 
in war, and prosperity in the time of peace. The second principal 
deity was Donar, the northern Thor (Roman Mars) ; he was the god 
of battles, and was said to rule over the thunder (tonnerre) and the 
lightning, and the seasons, on which depended the fruitful productions 
of the earth. Beside these there was a special god of war named Zio 
(Zevs), the Gothic Tius (Deus), from whom the word Tuesday (Dinstag) 
is derived. He was, as might be expected amongst a nation of warriors, 
an object of peculiar adoration. The numerous Goddesses (for the 
ancient Germans had more goddesses than gods) were looked upon as 
wandering, visiting, nursing mothers, instructing the human race in the 
domestic occupations and arts, and in husbandry. To one of these 
goddesses Tacitus gives the name of Nertha, or Hertha 
(Mother Earth) Nirdu, and describes the ceremonies which were 
observed in her worship. She was supposed to be the mother of all 
mankind, guiding and ruling over human affairs, and visiting at stated 
times the several nations of the earth. Her place of residence was 
supposed by some to have been the Isle of Rugen in the Baltic Sea ; by 
others, Heligoland near the mouth of the Elbe. " When she pursued 
her journey from one nation to another, she was accompanied by a priest 
who followed the sacred chariot, which was drawn by cows. During 
her progress, festivals and rejoicings took place, war was un thought of, 
arms were entirely laid aside, and the sweets of peace were known and 
enjoyed. On her return to her residence, the priest declared the god- 
dess satisfied with her visitation, and re-conducted her to the sacred 
grove, her sanctuary ; the chariot with the sacred mantle which covered 
it, and, according to some, the goddess herself, and not her effigy, were 
then purified in the sacred lake, in which the slaves who assisted in 
the ceremonies were drowned, lest they should divulge the sacred 
mysteries." 
5 



BELIGXOITS WOESHIP OE THE GERMANS. [§ 2. 

The principal heroes, or earth-born gods, probably deified legis- 
lators or warriors, mortals placed inter divos, were T v i s c o Sohn Man, 
the father of all men, and his sons In go, Isco, and Irmino. 
Tvisco was also the most ancient deity of the Scandinavians, and accord- 
ing to some, the same with the Scythian or Celtic king Treulates. 
Besides these deities, almost every tribe had its own peculiar d se m o n s, 
which were partly benevolent and protective, and partly of a malicious 
and tormenting character, shadowy or ghostly spirits, as elves, giants, 
dwarfs, goblins, etc. In general, the goddesses of the Germans were 
more venerated than the gods, hence the importance which they attached 
to their counsels and responses, and the reverence with which they 
regarded certain females of their nation, who were supposed to be 
gifted with prophetic powers. The female sex was sacred, and adultery 
was considered an inexpiable crime ; it was, therefore, of very rare oc- 
currence. Amongst the prophetesses, who were silver-haired and 
named wise women, or A 1 r u n e s, was the celebrated Bructerian 
prophetess Y e 1 e d a, regarded as their queen. They were not worshipped 
as gods, but were very highly venerated and esteemed, as from them 
emanated the oracular responses of the will of the gods, which they 
interpreted from the entrails of animals' sacrificed for the purpose. 
Sometimes human victims were offered, supplied from the prisoners taken 
in war, culprits guilty of great crimes, or slaves purchased for the 
purpose. Omens, such as the roaring of the waves, the dashing of the 
billows against the rocks, etc., were also interpreted by the wise women. 

The religious services of the ancient Germans always took place in the 
open air. To immure their deities in temples, was to take from them 
the majesty of superior beings. Woods and groves were their sacred 
depositories, whilst sometimes holy mountains, consecrated lakes, rivers, 
and wells, were the places set apart for worship, which consisted of prayers 
and offerings in sacrifice. 

The kind of prayer used, and the method of praying are unknown ; 
but it is supposed to have consisted in lifting up the eyes towards 
heaven, bending the body, folding the hands, bending the knees, and 
uncovering the head. 

The offering of animals, particularly milk-white horses, was common to 
them. Fruits and flowers are seldom mentioned, probably because of their 
comparatively small value. The will of the gods was also ascertained by the 
flight of birds, the casting of lots, and the neighing of the sacred horses, 
(milk-white steeds,) a number of which were kept at the public expense, 
and when occasion required were splendidly caparisoned, and placed in 
the sacred chariot, when they were led forth accompanied by the sovereign. 
The priests, who interpreted the neighings, were regarded as the organs 
of the gods. The religious worship of the ancient Germans was by no 
means destitute of sensual gratifications, and the religious element was 
largely mixed up by them in all their rejoicings and feastings. 

The priests were not a sacerdotal caste like the Druids of Gaul and 
Britain, but united with the priestly character that of the civilian; they 
attended the public assemblies of the people ; and even accompanied 
the army to the field, regulating the discipline of the same, and punish- 
ing delinquencies whenever discovered. 

6 



CONSTITUTION" AND GOVERNMENT. [§ 2. 

E. Constitution and Government of the ancient 
Germans. 

According to Tacitus, Germany had anciently as many- 
republics as tribes, all of which were governed by an un- 
written or common law, formed by the community from the 
traditions of their ancestors. These were administered by 
the elder, or chief, who from the Hill of Justice, in the pre- 
sence of the members of the community, decided upon the 
cases brought before him. The laws were not, however, 
universal throughout all the tribes ; a similarity, indeed, 
pervaded them, but they differed somewhat from each other 
in every tribe, or confederation of tribes. Written laws 
probably existed long before the Carlovingian period, and 
seem to have been first used by those tribes of "Western 
Grermany, on the left bank of the Rhine, who had come in 
contact with nations which had forsaken idolatry and 
embraced Christianity; hence there was a considerable 
difference between the laws of the Western Germans and 
those of the East, who were still governed wholly by here- 
ditary customs. 

In all the Germanic codes the traces of a jury are discern- 
ible, whose province it was (at least in more recent periods) 
to fix the amount of satisfaction, or fine, to be rendered to 
the party aggrieved, which was regulated according to the 
rank or quality of the persons concerned, and the circum- 
stances of the crime. In many cases, however, the injured 
party was not bound by the decision of the court, but was 
at liberty either to compromise the matter, or to obtain 
revenge in whatever way he could. Excepting in a few in- 
stances, atonement might be made for any crime by the pay- 
ment of a fine, which, if the culprit were unable to meet, he 
was reduced to slavery, and, in some instances, put to death. 

The lands of the Germans were divided into districts, 
variously named ; a district containing one hundred landed 
proprietors and their families, formed a Community, or a 
Centenary, sometimes also called a Hundred. JPagus, or Gau, 
consisted of several hundreds, whilst a still greater number 
of communities formed a State (Civitas). Each district 
had a distinct name, and a magistrate to rule over it, chosen 
by the inhabitants. Those who ruled over a pagus, were of 
equal rank with the counts or dukes of a later period. Each 
district had also its assembly (concilium), in which were 
7 



THE GENERAL AND ORDINARY ASSEMBLIES. [§ 2. 

vested the legislative and the judicial power, together with 
the privilege of making war and determining peace. The 
magistrates were usually selected from noble families, and 
from being elective, at length became hereditary. 

The privilege of voting in the General Assembly was con- 
nected with the possession of landed property, which alone 
conferred full political rights ; even the son of a landed 
proprietor, so long as he had not acquired land of his own, 
was under the wardenship (mundium) of his father; and 
even his engagements in military service, however great his 
bravery, did not exempt him from the parental authority : 
he could not be independent. The General Assembly, if 
nothing prevented, was held at fixed and stated periods, and 
the vicinity of some sacred lake, statue, or cross, was the 
place usually selected, to add a solemnity to the proceed- 
ings ; and where neither of these was at hand, the upraised 
shield of the judge was used as the token. The Ordinary 
Assemblies were convened once a month, at the new or full 
moon. At their extraordinary assemblies (annual plaids'), 
every man took his place completely armed, so that the 
assembly resembled an army rather than a council of legis- 
lators. The business of the meeting was opened by the 
king, or in the absence of a sovereign, by the prince or chief 
of the community, who was followed by the rest, according 
to age, nobility of rank, renown in arms, or fame for elo- 
quence. The decision of the gods, which was sought by 
the casting of lots, was proclaimed by the priests, and if the 
proposition had been favourably received, the meeting testi- 
fied their approbation by the brandishing of their javelins, 
the clashing of their arms, and the utterance of loud 
exclamations. The rejection of a proposition was received 
by the expression of a general murmur. 

In later times, as the communities became extended, and 
the distance from the place of meeting consequently more 
remote, all the proprietors of land could not possibly attend ; 
delegates, or representatives, were therefore appointed. 
Subsequently, these assemblies were held twice in the year. 
At the first, when the more momentous affairs of the 
monarchy or state were discussed, all the members attended; 
but the second, at which the financial matters chiefly were 
determined, was attended only by the magistrates of the 
respective communities, the dukes and counts, and other 
8 



GRADATIONS OF ANCIENT GEKMANIC SOCIETY. [§ 2. 

officers connected with the administration of public affairs. 
In the former, every man possessing land had a right to be 
present, but the greater proprietors alone voted ; the smaller 
could neither take part in the debates nor vote, but had their 
station within a ring or circle, where they could hear, and 
were permitted to express their approval or disapprobation. 

Yiew of the Different Gradations of Society 
amongst the ancient G-ermans. 

The mass of the people, who were characterized by their 
fierce blue eyes, red hair, and robust frame, consisted of 
those who were free, and of those who were in a greater or 
lesser degree in a state of bondage to others. Among the 
free, there was a class of nobility (nobilitas), by no means 
numerous, the origin and precise condition of which cannot 
be determined : according to Tacitus, it consisted of those 
who, having been born of parents long possessed of freedom, 
were invested with the dignities of the commonwealth. 

Besides the l\obles, were the Jfreemen, the ^Freedmen, and 
the Slaves. 

The Freeman possessed liberty, but no official dignity. "War was his 
profession ; and on being solemnly invested with his arms in the presence 
of the great assembly of the people, he joined himself to one of the 
principal chiefs, who prided themselves in the number of their armed 
vassals. These, in time of peace, served to increase the splendour of 
then retinue, and in war were a source of defence. In later times, 
before nobility became hereditary, it is probable that the nobles were 
selected from the more renowned of these armed vassals ; hence the 
extreme jealousy with wbich they guarded the privileges of their order, 
every departure from which was severely punished. 

Next to the freemen were the freedmen {liberti), among whom some 
class the leudes (Htus), or the vassals of a lord. The freedmen may be 
said to have occupied a position between the freemen and the slaves, 
amounting to a state of half freedom. The offices discharged by them, 
were the various duties connected with the household, and agriculture, 
or the cultivation of the ground assigned to them by their lord. Between 
the freemen and the freedmen there was, however, a wide difference ; the 
latter could not (according to some) bear arms, neither could they hold 
landed property, excepting as a benefice or reward for services, and then 
it was conferred only for life ; but more frequently it was held only for 
a certain period ; it did not descend to their family. In the courts of law 
they coxild not give evidence against a freeman, nor cite one before the 
judges, even for the most flagrant offence ; it might, however, be done 
through their patron, who sued on his own behalf. 

Next in order were the Colon i, or Peasants, {Colonia conditio), 
who, although distinct from the slaves, may yet be regarded as bond 
9 b 3 



PEASANTS AND SLATES. [§ 2. 

labourers. They formed the great mass of the rural population, and occu- 
pied a condition between servitude and freedom. They were, however, 
irrevocably fixed to the soil, and could not be separated from the domain 
to which they belonged ; if the estate were sold, the Coloni were sold 
with it. Their personal sale was forbidden, and if they made their 
escape from the domain to which they were attached, the proprietor 
could claim them wherever found, and compel their return, even though 
they might have joined the ranks of the clergy, and become priests. 
The Coloni, although capable of holding property (Peculium), could 
not alienate or dispose of it without the consent of their masters, to 
whom they paid a fixed annual rent, which the proprietor himself could 
not raise. In some respects, the condition of the Coloni was worse than 
that of the slaves, for their masters could not manumit them from the soil : 
they could only become free by prescription ; that is, "when they had 
been for thirty years unclaimed by any proprietor, and therefore free. 
The Coloni, like the slaves, were subject to corporal punishments, 
although their masters had no political authority over them, but such 
as was connected with property. In civil matters, the Coloni could not 
prefer any charges against their proprietors or patrons, excepting for 
over-exaction in the rent of the soil, or any crime in which the interests 
of the public at large were concerned. 

Below the Coloni were the Slaves; and that they formed a very 
numerous class may be concluded from the fact, that it was by the 
produce of the cultivated lands, which devolved upon the slaves and 
the half-freemen, that the free warriors were supported. The slaves 
were either born so, or placed in that condition by various accidental 
circumstances ; the greater portion consisted of Grerman captives taken 
in war, numbers of whom were sold to the Romans, who drafted them 
into their legions. Freemen marrying slaves were degraded to the 
same position, and then* offspring also became the property of the pro- 
prietor. All debtors unable to satisfy the demands of their creditors, 
as well as convicted criminals who could not pay the fines levied upon 
them, were reduced to slavery ; some even embraced this condition 
through a mistaken piety, giving up their possessions to the church, 
and themselves with their families to slavery ; and not a few yielded 
themselves to it, as a protection from want and injustice. Before the 
period of the empire, slaves might be mutilated and put to death at 
the will of their masters, and could be sold and transferred from one 
domain to another. 

The occupations of the slaves were numerous ; some were wholly 
engaged in the cultivation of the soil, the entire produce of which, 
excepting what was barely needful for their own support, went to then- 
employers : others were occupied in the duties of the household, and in 
attending upon the person of their lord, and seem, as well as the 
Coloni, to have had a Peculium {slave property), by which they were 
enabled to purchase their freedom, and become Liberti, or freedmen. 

Whether the emancipation of a slave was known in ancient times or 
not is doubtful. In later times, it was generally conditional, and accom- 
panied by galling obligations. The manumission before the altar, how- 
ever, was complete, and the slave was raised above the dignity 
10 



MAGISTRATES. [§ 2. 

of the freedman, to that of freeman at once ; so also, when, in the 
presence of the sovereign, the denarius was struck from the hand of the 
slave, which signified that his master refused to receive the tribute of his 
servitude any longer. The most common mode of enfranchisement, 
however, was to open the door, and push the slave away with the hand, 
from whence the word manumissione. 

In later times, as the light of Christianity dawned upon the coun- 
tries of the west, and the arts and sciences began to be fostered and 
encouraged, the landed proprietors became alive to the fact, that their 
vassals could be much more advantageously employed in the industrial 
mechanical arts than in tilling the soil. Hence, serfs and freedmen 
gradually became artisans, and engaged in commercial pursuits. Free- 
men, whose sole occupation was arms,held such employments to be servile 
and degrading ; but in the reign of the fourth Henry the wall of par- 
tition between the serf and the freeman was broken down ; they were 
then allowed to bear arms, and to share in the privileges of the com- 
monwealth. 

The free German was known by his long curly hair, his arms, and 
the dress he assumed, which in the summer consisted of a tunic of wool, 
and in the winter of a coat of skins. The Bond men had their hair 
cropped short, and wore a narrow strait garment, or short close dress. 
According to Tacitus, the freeman' of this class might with the permis- 
sion of his master, carry arms, and sometimes even occupy a post of 
honour. On the other hand, the serfs, or the lowest class of bondmen, 
were regarded as brute beasts, could be bought and sold at pleasure, 
and, in case of death, no recompense was awarded. 

The Magistrates. 

The Magistrate, who presided over a pagus or canton, was 
termed principe, and possessed an authority fully equal to 
that of the dukes or counts of a later period ; they were 
distinguished by the nobility of their birth, and were pro- 
bably selected from some one noble family. In this respect 
they differed from the chiefs, Dux, who were chosen 
only for their valour. The prerogative of the magistrate, or 
principe, was to govern by his advice and counsel, to deter- 
mine matters of little importance himself, and to present 
those of greater moment before the general assembly. 
There were also principes who ruled over only a single 
community. 

The office of Duke (Dux), which was probably filled by one or other 
of the principes, existed only so long as the war of which they had 
the direction lasted; he then retired, the office being wholly of a 
military character. During the war, he led the army of the duchy or 
canton, over which he was placed, to the field of battle, at the command 
of the sovereign. Eventually the civil authority was annexed to the 
military, and the office was held for life, and subsequently became 
11 



CONSTITUTION OE WAK. [§ 2. 

hereditary. In earlier times, the dukes had no control over the 
revenues of the duchy, but simply transmitted them to the court. They 
had, however, an income sufficient to support the splendour and dignity 
of their station and office; the revenue of certain lands being set 
aside for the express purpose, which eventually became in many 
instances hereditary domains. 

Below the dukes were the counts, betwixt whom and the dukes there 
was a difference, similar to that which existed between the dukes and 
princes. There were also many minor military judges, who superintended 
the administration of justice in the various hundreds or gaus to which 
they were elected. An appeal from their decisions to the stiperior 
courts, however, was allowed, and even to the General Assembly itself, if 
considered necessary. 

C The Constitution of "War. 

The arms used by the German warriors displayed an 
amount of intelligence and experience, which if it had been 
applied to the industrial arts would have sufficed to procure 
for them not only the comforts, but many of the luxuries of 
life. That they were by no means ignorant of the art of 
working in metals is evident from the construction of their 
arms, of which the following is a brief description: — -1) 
The lances and javelins, with which they attacked their 
enemies, for although they constantly wore swords, yet 
they but very seldom used them. The former, which 
were preferred, consisted of a long shaft of wood tipped 
with a short narrow piece of iron sharply pointed ; these 
weapons served either for close engagement or for distant 
combat, for thrusting and for throwing, and with a shield 
formed the armour of the cavalry. The infantry had 
additional missive weapons, such as the short dart or frame 
(framea) , which was thrown to an incredible distance with 
almost unerring certainty. Breast plates were numerous, 
but helmets were rarely worn ; the warriors had also hows 
and arrows, and some of them carried immense clubs, to 
which pointed stones were fixed, called stone hammers, or 
thunder holts. For defence, they carried a shield of ozier 
twigs interwoven, or basket-work, or one made of wood, 
thin boards painted or daubed over with shining gaudy 
colours. 

Arms and citizenship were assumed by none until declared 

duly qualified by the state • and the aspirant for the honour 

must be of the age of twenty years. The candidate was 

introduced before the whole assembly, either by one of the 

12 



MANNEBS AND CUSTOMS. [§ 2. 

chiefs or his father, or some other relative, who, on his 
acceptance, invested him with a shield and javelin. "When 
war was declared by the assembly of the nation, a public 
proclamation was made, summoning all who bore arms to 
follow their chiefs. These constituted the army (der 
Heerbann) . There were those also who were designated 
followers (das Geleite), bands of young men who assem- 
bled round some hardy adventurer bent on a special expe- 
dition either at home or abroad, to acquire territory, or to 
obtain plunder. It was by these marauding, plundering bands 
that the destruction of the Western Ivoman Empire was 
mainly effected. In proceeding to the theatre of war, or 
field of battle, those armed with clubs formed a sort of 
wedge or close phalanx, whilst on either side and in the 
rear were their wagons laden with provisions, and their 
tenderest pledges — -their wives and their children, who 
were spectators of the battle, and applauded the heroism of 
the warriors. In the wedge of war marched the prophetesses 
arrayed in milk white linen, while the bards encouraged the 
warriors by the sacred songs or hymns which they chaunted 
before the commencement of the struggle, and at intervals 
during the conflict. When the order of battle was destroyed, 
and defeat appeared probable, the women would rush in and 
mingle with the combatants, and not unfrequently recover 
the lost advantages by their heroic valour. 

D. Manners and Customs. 

The ancient Germans entertained a sort of horror of 
being shut or penned up in towns or cities, which were 
therefore not known amongst them; neither did they 
allow of a continuity of dwellings, but lived in single 
habitations, which were huts covered with straw, turf, 
or green sods, and sometimes with a kind of earth, so 
smooth and glossy that the natural veins had some re- 
semblance to the lights and shades of painting. Their 
dwellings were erected amidst their own lands, upon which 
resided the chief of the family, and all those who cultivated 
the soil whether free or not ; relatives, labourers, and slaves 
were like the dwellings, scattered here and there over the 
whole domain. 

The chief occupations of the freeman, when not engaged 
in the business of war, were that of the chase and hawking, 
13 



MANNEBS AND CUSTOMS. [§ 2. 

at which the noble ladies frequently attended. The domestic 
duties of the house and the cultivation of the land were 
consigned to the aged men, women, children, and the serfs. 
Their food, like their dwellings and dress, was simple, con- 
sisting of wild apples, the flesh of recently killed animals 
taken in the chase, coagulated with milk, etc. Their invi- 
tations to each other were frequent, and the banquets were 
always scenes of intoxication, gaming, dissipation, and quar- 
reling, the latter frequently ending in bloodshed. Songs, 
of which they were extremely fond, and instrumental music, 
accompanied by naked dances amidst pointed swords and 
javelins, made up their social amusements. At their banquets 
matters of the greatest moment were discussed; but the 
decision was not given until the following day, when the 
excitement of the previous night's revelry had passed away, 
and left them comparatively cool and collected. Their drink 
was a beverage prepared, with little art, from barley or 
wheat ; for wine made from the juice of the grape they were 
as yet unacquainted with; while they carried their love 
of gaming to such an extent, as even to stake on the final 
throw, when everything else was lost, their personal freedom 
itself. Honesty, integrity, and chastity were highly es- 
teemed among them, and generosity towards vanquished 
enemies strongly marked the German character ; to which 
may be added a spontaneous hospitality, a glowing love to 
the land of their fathers, and the most heroic bravery. 
Their great vices were their love of drinking, gaming, and 
fighting. 



14 



B.C. 58] ARIOVISTUS. — JULIUS C^SAR. [§ 3. 



§3. 

THE GERMAN WARS, FROM THE TIME OF THEIR CON- 
FLICTS WITH THE ROMANS, UNTIL THE MIGRATIONS 

OF THE NATIONS. 

A. Wars of the Cimbri and Teutones, 
against the Romans (b. c. 113 — 101). 

B. The Conquests of the Eomans on the 
left banks of the Ehine (b. c. 58— 57). 

The first authentic accounts of the Germans commence 
with the invasion of the Roman Empire, when in conjunction 
with the Gauls, and again under the Macedonian king, 
Perseus, the great nation of the Bastarnse, carried on an 
unsuccessful war against the Romans. In 113 B.C., the 
Romans came again in contact with the Germans when in 
conjunction with the Cimbri, under the general name of 
Teutones, they defeated the consul Papirius Carbo on the 
confines of the Roman dominions. They next appear under 
the powerful monarch of the Marcomanni, Ariovistus, who 
assisted the Sequani against their common enemy the JEdui, 
whom they defeated. Ariovistus at length became the 
oppressor of both parties, and seized some of the territories 
on the left bank of the Rhine, belonging to the vassals of 
the Sequani ; he also poured hosts of German troops into 
the district of the Gauls who were also oppressed by the 
Helvetians. The Gauls having applied to Caesar for assist- 
ance, it was promptly rendered, when the Helvetians were 
defeated with great slaughter, and compelled to return to 
their dwellings at the foot of the Alps. The war between 
Ariovistus and Csesar respecting the dominion of Gaul was 
determined by the battle of Yesentio, Besanqon, B.C. 58, when 
the Germans were defeated, and compelled to recross the 
Rhine. Csesar followed up the defeat of Ariovistus by the 
subjection of the Belgic German tribes ; the JSTervii, who 
fought until their nation and name were nearly extinguished; 
and the Aduatici (probably the same with the Tungri of 
Tacitus) and the Eburones. He twice crossed the Rhine 
into the territories of the Sicambri to secure the Gauls from 
the inroads of the Germans, but without any fixed result. 
Csesar now resolved to engage the Germans as auxiliaries in 
15 



B.C. 15.] DKUSUS AND TIBEKITJS. [§ 3. 

the Soman army, and took a number of them into his pay, 
whom he employed in the subjugation of G-aul, and after- 
wards (during the civil wars of Rome) against Pompey, who 
being defeated at Pharsalus, left Caesar in possession of the 
empire of the world, b.c. 48. 

From the time of Augustus, the territory of the Germans on the left 
bank of the Rhine was divided into Germania Superior and Inferior, 
and formed part of the Gallic province Belgica. For the defence of 
the frontier against the irruptions of the Germans towards the west, 
eight legions were stationed on the Middle and Lower Ehine, having 
their head-quarters at Mogontiacum, Maynz or Mentz, Colonia XJbi- 
onum, or Agrippina, Cologne, and Castra Vetera, Xanten. On the Upper 
Bliine, beyond Mentz, such defences Avere considered unnecessary, as the 
fidelity of the German tribes in Germania Superior could be depended 
upon. 

C. The Conquests of the Romans south of 
the Danube. — Subjection of the Rhsetians, 
Vindelicians, and the Noricians, B.C. 15. 

That a natural frontier boundary might be obtained for 
the protection of the northern portions of the Roman 
Empire against the Germans, as well as to secure the passes 
of the Alps, Augustus caused his sons-in-law, Drusus and 
Tiberius, to march against the German tribes betwixt the 
Alps and the Danube. The former advanced from the 
south by the valley of the Etsch, Atagis, whilst Tiberius 
came down from Helvetia. The Roman arms were victorious, 
but the Rhsetians made a brave resistance, and it was not 
until the two Roman armies had combined that they sub- 
mitted, when the passes of the Alps were secured to the 
Romans. Vindelicia, Noricum, and Rheetia, were now 
(b.c. 15) Roman provinces, and the Upper Danube became 
the boundary between Germany and the Roman Empire, 
for the security of which the Roman colony Augusta Yin- 
delicorum, Augsburg, was established. By these conquests 
the incursions of the G-ermans towards the south were also 
restrained. 

D. Conquests of the Romans in Germany 
Proper, from b.c. 12 to a.d. 16. 

1) Campaigns of Drusus and Tiberius. 

In order to subdue the tribes of Germany Proper, or the 
low German tribes, to the Roman dominion, Drusus, 
16 



B.C. 9, A.D. 4.] DKUSTJS AND TIBERITTS. [§ 3. 

assisted by his allies the Batavi and the Erisii, undertook 
four expeditions into their territories, B.C. 12 — 9 ; built 
additional fortresses on the Rhine (50); which formed the 
foundations of future cities and towns ; fortified the heights 
of the Taunus, and the Aliso on the Upper Luppia, Lippe ; 
and penetrated even to the Elbe. 

The first campaign was entered "upon in consequence of the 
attempts of the Sicambri and their confederates, the Usipetes and the 
Tencteri, to cross the Rhine. Drusus not only crossed the Rhine near 
the isles of Batavi, into the country of the Usipetes, but overran that 
of the Sicambri ; and that he might the better attack the enemy, he 
constructed a canal, Fosse Drusiana, by which he connected the Ehiiie 
with the Isala, Yssel, and built a fleet of ships with which he con- 
veyed his armies by the way of the North Sea (which he was the first 
to navigate) and the Amisia, Ems, into the middle of the country 
possessed by the Bructeri, whom he conquered. The Sicambrians, 
comprehending the designs of the Bomans, resolved to oppose the 
progress of their arms, and confederated with the Cherusci and the 
Suevi. This compelled Drusus to undertake a second campaign: 
he again attacked the Usipetes and the Sicambri, and had penetrated 
the country of the Cherusci as far as the Visurgis, Weser, when he 
was suddenly arrested, by a rumour of the rising of the nations in 
his rear. Having vanquished the confederates at Arbalo and fortified 
Aliso, he returned. The third campaign (from Mogontiacum, Mentz,) 
was directed against the powerful and warlike tribe of the Catti, who 
had been drawn into the confederacy of the Cherusci by the Sicam- 
brians ; Drusus defeated them, and despoiled the greater portion of 
their country. After erecting a fortress on the heights of the Taunus 
against them, he retired ; but again took the field in a fourth campaign, 
when he overran the territories of the Catti and Cherusci ; and, 
crossing the Yisurgis, Weser, advanced as far as the Albis, File, where, 
alarmed at the appearance of some gigantic women, he feared to proceed 
any further. Hastening his retreat, he fell with his horse, broke his 
thigh, and died in the camp, not far from the Elbe, (B.C. 9.) 

Tiberius succeeded Drusus in the command of the 
legions on the Rhine, but had recourse to stratagem, which 
he found to be more successful than the employment of 
force. He engaged many of the tribes to enter the Roman 
service, and thus brought all the nations from the Rhine to 
the Lower Elbe, together with the Suevi, to acknowledge 
the Roman sovereignty, (a.d. 4.) 

2) The Marcomannic Empire, and the Che- 
ruscian Confederacy. — Struggles of the Free 
Germans against the Romans, a.b. 7 — 10. 

The extension of the Roman empire towards Suevia, 
17 



A.D. 9.] SATURKEUS — MAEBOD — ARIILNTTTS. [§ 3. 

brought the Romans into contact with the Marcornannic 
empire, which embraced many of the Suevic tribes, the chief 
of which were the Semnones and the Langobardi. Tiberius 
arranged his forces so as to eifect its destruction, and 
therefore resolved to attack it simultaneously on the 
west and south. Saturnius, the Roman governor of the 
German provinces on the Rhine, was to penetrate through 
the Hercynian forest, whilst Tiberius with the flower of the 
army was to precipitate himself upon Bohemia imme- 
diately from the Danube. The empire of M a r o b o d i u s, 
(M a r b o d) was, however, for a while saved from destruc- 
tion. An insurrection broke out in the Illyrian and Panno- 
nian provinces, on the Adriatic Sea and on the Carnatic 
Alps, which compelled Drusus to conclude a treaty of peace 
and friendship with Marbod, and to turn against the rebels. 
After a severe struggle of four years' continuance, the 
revolted provinces were subdued. Germany now bid fair to 
become a Roman province, but the imprudence of Quinctilius 
Varus, the successor of S. Saturnius, destroyed the advan- 
tages already gained, and occasioned a confederation 
of the tribes of Lower Germany to be formed, having 
for its object the throwing off the Roman yoke, which had 
been rendered oppressive by unjust taxation, the intro- 
duction of Roman provincial laws and customs, and the 
destruction of the native language, by the compulsory use 
of the Roman. At the head of the confederation was 
Arminius (H e r m a n), a prince who had not only been 
educated at Rome, but had served in the Roman armies. 
Induced by a false report of the rising of the Amsivari 
or Sicambri, to proceed to the Ems, Varus allowed himself 
to be enticed into the Teutoburgian forest, where 
the Germans, under Herman, attacked him, and cut to 
pieces three of the finest legions which Rome could boast. 
Varus could not survive this defeat, and falling upon his 
sword, slew himself in despair, a.d. 9. By this event the 
Germans regained their liberty, and the Romans lost all their 
conquests beyond the Rhine. Augustus, fearing an insur- 
rection among the Germans at Rome, compelled them to 
leave the city, and disbanded his German body-guard. The 
Cherusci, among whom Herman was born, now became the 
most powerful people of Germany. 

18 



A.D. 14—16.] CAMPAIGNS OF OERMANICTTS. [§ 3. 

3) The Campaigns of G-ermanicus, a.d. 14 — 16. 

Germanicus endeavoured to recover the lost provinces in 
Germany, nor were his efforts entirely unsuccessful. He 
met Herman, the Cheruscian leader, at Idistavisus Campus 
(Idistaviss), now Hastenbach near Minden, and defeated him. 
The disaffection of the tribes on the other side of the Weser ,, 
however, compelled his return. On his passage by the way 
of the Ems and the North Sea to the Rhine, a great portion 
of his fleet was wrecked during a tempest ; notwithstanding 
his loss, he resolved to carry out the objects of the campaign; 
but while preparing so to do he was recalled to Home by the 
Emperor Tiberius. 

In the first campaign, G-ermanicus set out from Castra Vetera 
(Xanten,) and crossed the Rhine towards the north-east. Entering 
the country of the M a r s i, he laid it waste : the rising of the Bructeri 
and the Usipetes, however, checked his progress, and compelled his 
return. In his second campaign, he ascended the Lahn, and fell 
upon the Catti, whom he defeated. From Castra Vetera, G-ermanicus 
passed through Aulus Csecina, and attacked the Cherusci both by 
sea and land, but could not make much impression upon that warlike 
nation. Returning through the defiles of the Teutoburgian forest, the 
Romans beheld the skeletons of their fathers and kindred who had 
perished there, under Varus, six years before ; these Germanicus com- 
manded to be buried, which was done with much solemnity. Both 
divisions of the Roman army sustained considerable loss in its return 
to Rome. Herman harassed the rear, which he hung upon with his 
army, and a great number were wrecked in a storm oif the North Sea. 
The third campaign was on a much larger scale than the two 
former. The fleet consisted of 1,000 . sail, which set out from the 
Zuyder Zee to the mouth of the Ems ; the army penetrated by land 
to the banks of the Weser, where they vanquished the Germans at 
Idistavisus, on the right bank of the Weser. A second victory followed, 
obtained through the superior skill of the Romans. The advantages, 
however, which resulted from these conquests could not be permanently 
retained ; an insurrection of the tribes on the other side of the Weser 
once more compelled the return of Germanicus. 

Thus Germany was again free ; its liberty, however, had 
been dearly purchased, at the expense of the lives of thou- 
sands of its noblest warriors. The victorious sword of 
Some was now sheathed with bitter regrets for the 
past ; its only hope was from the dissensions which mani- 
fested themselves in the confederations and leagues formed 
amongst the various tribes, and the jealousies which existed 
between the principal nations. These breaches the friends 
19 



A.D. 69, 70.] BATAYIAtf WAR 'OF LIBERATION. [§ 3. 

(amisi) and allies of Home fostered, and by their intrigues 
tended to widen, until at last internal warfare brought 
them into subjection to each other. 

"War between Arminius (Herman) and Mar- 
bod (a.d. 17). 

By the alliance of Marobodius (Marbod) with the Romans, 
it soon became evident to the Germans that the object of 
his ambition was not so much the independency of Germany, 
as the establishment of a firm and lasting empire for him- 
self. Hence the Cheruscan league was joined by the bravest 
of the Suevic tribes, the Langobardi and the Semnones, who 
broke off from Marbod and united in the confederation against 
the suspected despot. In a bloody but undecisive battle, 
which was fought in Saxony, Marbod was worsted, and 
retreated into Bohemia, whence he was driven by the 
Gothones under their prince Catwald, and took shelter in 
Eavenna, where Tiberius allowed him to remain, (a.d. 19.) 
Soon after, Herman, who was also suspected of aiming at 
absolute dominion, fell a victim to the treachery of his own 
relations, by whom he was assassinated (a.d. 22.) After 
these events had taken place, a long and sanguinary warfare 
between the German and Suevic tribes continued with 
unremitting ardour for the long period of 150 years. 

E. The Batavian war of Liberation, (a.d. 
69, 70.) 

On the death of the Roman emperor Galba, the army of 
the Rhine proclaimed Yitellius, aud accompanied him to 
Italy, where Vespasian contended with him for the empire. 
The alliance of the Romans having become burdensome to 
the Batavi, they took the opportunity of rising against 
them. Claudius Civilis, a Batavian, although bearing a 
Roman name, became their leader. At one time, the insur- 
rection seems to have spread throughout all the tribes on the 
left bank of the Rhine, even amongst the Belgic Gauls. 
Inspired by the sacred songs of the prophetesses, and an 
inherent love of liberty, they advanced towards the confines 
of the Roman territory, and commenced their attacks. At 
the beginning of the revolt, Civilis feigned to be collecting 
an army in favour of Yespasian ; but on the death of Yitel- 
lius, he shook off the Roman yoke, and all Gallia and the 
20 



A.D. 165.] ATTACKS OP THE GEEMANS ON THE EMPIEE. [§ 3. 

Roman legions who possessed it, with the Ubi, rallied round 
his standard, and a new Gallic kingdom was proclaimed. 
On the advance of Cerealis, the Roman general, into the 
Gaulish territories to crush the rebellion, the Gauls with 
their usual fickleness and want of unity forsook Civilis, and 
the kingdom was dissolved. The Treveri who remained 
faithful to their leader, were cruelly slaughtered ; whilst the 
Ubi, on the contrary, again joined the ranks of the Romans, 
and in conjunction with them attacked the Erisii and Chauci, 
who were hastening to assist Civilis, at Tolbiacum (Zul- 
pich), and cut them to pieces. This victory was followed 
by another at Xanten, when the Batavi retreated to the 
Delta of the Rhine, and once more became subject to Rome. 
The emperor imposed no taxes, nor collected any tribute, but 
wisely engaged that they should furnish troops to fight in 
the Roman armies, even against their own countrymen. 

F. Aggressive Wars of the Germans — At- 
tacks ofthe Germans on the Roman Empire. 

The wars of the Romans with the Germans, in the middle 
of the second century, were of a defensive character. In 
order to protect their provinces on the right banks of the 
Rhine, (agri decumates,) and on the left bank of the 
Danube, a frontier wall had been erected by the gradual 
advance of garrisons or forts, which extended from the Rhine 
over the Lahn and the Mayn, even to the Danube. This 
wall (vallum JRomamm) the Germans had made several 
breaches in, and had battered down many of the garrisons 
or forts, which the Romans (now engaged in foreign wars) 
were not able to protect ; still less able were they to main- 
tain their frontier on the southern Danube. Thus, when, in 
the second century, the nations on the Vistula and the 
Oder rose and poured forth their hosts upon their southern 
and western neighbours, nothing could withstand them, and 
they possessed themselves of the whole of the territory 
between the Black Forest and the Danube to Dacia. 

At a later date (a.d. 165,) another fearful inundation took 
place, consisting of hordes of nations hitherto unheard of, 
as the Yandals and Alans. They swept over the provinces 
like a torrent, and ascending the defiles of the Alps, did 
not stay their progress until they reached the immediate 
neighbourhood of Aquileia, in Upper Italy. On their arrival, 
21 



A.D.167 — 250.] OONFEDEBATIOSTS. [§ 3. 

tlie Roman legions were chiefly occupied in the eastern 
portion of the Roman empire, against the warlike Parthians. 
The war consequent on this descent of German tribes upon 
the Roman empire is known in history as the "Marco- 
mannic war" the Marcomanni being best known to the 
Romans, having been engaged with them before in the time of 
Marbod, (a.d. 167 — 180.) The emperor, Marcus Aurelianus, 
marched thrice over the Alps into Pannonia, against the. 
barbarians, but could only partially subdue them. To stay 
their ravages, he took a large number of them into the 
pay of the empire, as mercenaries, and distributed them 
throughout the various provinces. He died at Yindebona, 
Vienna, after having struggled for thirteen years to regain 
the broken border lines of the empire. Commodus, his 
son, unlike the father, preferred peace to an unprofitable 
and destructive war, and therefore entered into a treaty with 
the Marcomanni, by which he engaged to resign all the 
Roman fortresses in their territory on condition of the 
payment of an annual tribute, and the liberation of all 
captives. 

This success on the part of those Germans in the Marco- 
mannic war, revived the slumbering energies of other tribes ; 
hence other and even more powerful leagues were formed 
during the third century of the Christian era, as the 
Ale mannic league, (All men,) composed of all the tribes 
from the Mayn, along the Rhine to the Alps — the Prankish 
confederacy on both sides of the Lower-Rhine — and the 
Saxon, from the Elbe nearly to the Rhine— the three 
ancient divisions of the tribes. 

A more important and extensive confederacy than either 
of the above, and once which exerted a more powerful influ- 
ence on the Roman empire, was the Gothic, in eastern 
Germany, embracing the Vandals and Alans. 

The Western German Confederation had, in 
the third and fourth centuries, not only regained the terri- 
tory lying betwixt the Upper Rhine and Danube, but had 
thoroughly Germanized it, and directing their course towards 
the south-west, had infringed upon the boundaries of the 
Roman empire. The Alemanni made themselves masters of 
the Upper Rhine and the Danube, while the Pranks, 
crossing the Lower Rhine, invaded Gaul. The Saxons were 
chiefly occupied in piratical excursions to the Gallic and 
22 



AD. 375.] HUNS — OSTROGOTHS — YISIGOTHS. [§ 4. 

British coasts. The Goths, a tribe of the Eastern G e r- 
m a n s, descended southward, and not only conquered the 
Roman Dacia, and extended themselves even to the Theiss, 
but penetrated into Mcesia and Thracia, both by sea and 
land, ravaging and plundering all the cities on the Greek and 
Asiatic coasts, and on the shores of the Pontus Euxinus, 
Black Sea. After the fourth century, they were divided 
into Ostro, or Eastern Goths, inhabiting the shores of the 
Euxine ; and the Visi, or "Western Goths, occupying Dacia. 

About the end of the fourth century both the Alemanni and the 
Franks had obtained a firm footing within the territories of the Roman 
empire. They were at first under the supremacy of the Eomans, the 
Alemanni in Alsatia, Alsace, and the Franks in the northern Nether- 
lands, on the Batavic Islands, and on the banks of the Meuse 
and Scheldt, where the appellation of Sales (Saltan Franks) was 
applied to them as well as to those who were settled in the Roman 
teritories. 



II. The Migrations of the Nations. 

§ 4. 

DISSOLUTION OF THE GOTHIC EMPIRE BY THE HUNS. 

"While the Visigoths in Dacia maintained a peaceful re- 
lation with the Roman empire, receiving large sums of 
money from the emperor, and were occupied in agricultural 
pursuits in the rich plains north of the Danube, other 
Gothic tribes were prn'suing their conquests in the plains of 
Sarmatia, and, under the brave and warlike Hermanric, 
founded an empire, which not only embraced all the Sclavic 
tribes between the Euxine and Baltic Seas, but also a great 
portion of the Einnish TJgrian tribes on the Wolga. After 
a transient existence, this kingdom was dissolved by the 
Huns, who, under their leader, Attila, advanced from their 
primitive habitations, beyond the Ural Mountains, in east- 
ern Asia. In alliance with the Alani, Alans, between the 
Wolga and the Don, the Huns attacked the Ostrogoths, 
whose king, Hermanric, now 110 years of age, proved too 
feeble to resist the multitudes that poured down upon him. 
His army being completely vanquished, his spirit could not 
brook so signal a defeat, and it is said that he put an end 
to his existence by falling on his sword (a.d. 375.) The 
Ostrogoths now retreated upon the territories of the Visi- 
23 



A.D. 378-95.] HUNS — OSTROGOTHS — VISIGOTHS. [§ 4. 

goths, in Dacia, followed by tlie Huns, when the Visigoths, 
unable to stem the torrent, retreated to the right bank of 
the Danube, and earnestly solicited settlements in the wilds 
of Mcesia and Thracia, within the Eoman territory. Yalens 
permitted a large portion of them (the Thervingi) to settle 
on the right bank of the Danube, in Mcesia, on condition 
that they embraced the Christian (Arian) faith, and assisted 
in the defence of the Eoman frontiers. Disputes, however, 
arose between them, and the Roman governors acted with 
great severity during a famine, (probably feigned) the ne- 
cessaries of life were sold to them at an exorbitant price ; 
and, when their gold was gone, their children were ex- 
changed for a few days' sustenance. This gave rise to an 
insurrection, and having been joined by the Ostrogoths, 
Huns, and Alans, the Thervingi crossed the Danube, and de- 
vastated Thracia, massacring, without pity, men, women, 
and children, and burning up the crops, etc. In vain the 
Emperor Yalens strove to drive them back. Giving them 
battle at Adrian op le, (a.d. 378,) he was defeated with 
terrible slaughter ; sixty thousand Eoman soldiers were left 
dead on the field. Valens retreating, took shelter in 
a hut, in which he was accidentally burned to death, 
and the empire left without defence. The G-oths left the 
city of Adrianople, declaring that they did not make war 
upon stones. Advancing rapidly on Constantinople, after 
some unimportant skirmishes, they returned west through 
Macedonia, Epirus, and Dalmatia, marking their passage by 
conflagration and blood. On the accession of Theodosius, he 
effected, by intrigue and persuasion, what he could not hope 
to do by an appeal to arms. He, therefore, took every oppor- 
tunity of ingratiating himself with the Gothic nation, now 
separated from their confederates. One chieftain after 
another was engaged in the service of the Eomans, with 
their followers, as auxiliaries, until the whole nation at 
length was induced to lay down its arms, (a.d. 382) six 
years after having crossed the Danube. 

Arcadius (a.d. 395) succeeded Theodosius in the 
Eastern empire, and proved a feeble monarch ; neglecting to 
pay the accustomed tribute, and refusing to promote the 
Gothic chieftains according to their valour and ability. 
A 1 a r i c, of the royal house of the Balthi, having received 
an insulting reply to his application for promotion, roused 
24 



A.D. 396 — 406.] ALABIC — STILICHO — BADAGAIS. [§ 4. 

the warlike passions of the Groths, and announced his inten- 
tion to attack the empire. Joined by numerous Scythian 
hordes, he crossed the frozen Danube, and advanced to Con- 
stantinople, laying waste Illyricum, Macedonia, and Greece, 
(a.d. 396.) To Athens he granted a capitulation ; the rest 
of the country he gave up to the fury and rapacity of his 
soldiers. The Eastern empire having engaged the brave 
(Vandal ?) Stilicho, who had been long in the service of the 
"Western empire, opposed the headlong Alaric. By skilful 
address he drew the Gothic king into a district of mountain 
gorges in Arcadia, where he was hemmed in, and, as it were, 
besieged. The intrigues of the court, however, prevented 
these advantages being followed up. Stilicho was ordered 
to evacuate the Eastern empire, and peace was concluded 
with Alaric, who was rewarded with the prefecture of 
Illyricum, and made master general of the Illyrian infantry. 
Alaric availed himself of his favourable position, and trained 
his soldiers agreeably to the Roman discipline. Having 
(a.d. 402) engaged the Greeks as his allies, he resolved to 
pass the borders of the Eastern, and attack the Western 
empire. Crossing the Julian Alps, he invaded Italy, ravag- 
ing, unopposed in his course, several provinces. On his 
arrival at Adige, he obliged the emperor to flee, and to seek 
refuge at Eavenna, which place subsequently became the 
adopted residence of Honorius. Stilicho, who, during the 
winter, had obtained soldiers from G-aul and Britain, in 
the spring of a.d. 403, marched at the head of his army 
against the enemy. Alaric was defeated in two successive 
engagements ; first at Pollentia, and then at Verona, after 
which he was compelled to evacuate Italy and retire into 
Pannonia. 

Scarcely had fclie Grothic invasion terminated, when Radagais or 
Radogast, crossed the Alps with 200,000 warriors, composed of various 
Grerman tribes, amongst which were the Burgundians, Vandali, Selingi, 
Grepidse, Suevi, and the Alani; these with their wives and children, 
entered Pannonia, (a.d. 406) leaving the Grerman territory compara- 
tively a desert. Stilicho attacked the army of Radagais, near Florence, 
and drove him back from point to point without giving him an oppor- 
tunity of fighting a battle, until at last he besieged him on the heights 
of Friuli, and compelled him to surrender at discretion ; Radagais, who 
trusted to the honour of Honorius for the preservation of his life, was 
put to death. Stilicho was now once more hailed as the saviour of 
Italy. 

25 c 



A.D. 408.] INVASION OF ITALY BY THE GOTHS. [§ 5. 

§5. 

GENERAL IMMIGRATION OF THE GERMANIC EACES 
INTO THE COUNTRIES OE THE WEST. 

"When Alaric threatened Italy with an invasion, (see § 4) 
Honorius recalled the Roman legions from the Rhine, to 
defend the Italian peninsula. The German provinces being 
abandoned, soon became a prey to the marauding bands of 
Germans, in search of territory and glory under their dif- 
ferent leaders. Hence, in a.d. 406, we find that tribes of 
the S u e v i c race, Vandals and A 1 a n i, have penetrated 
through Gaul into Spain — the Burgundians have 
settled in Eastern Gaul, on the upper Rhine, and the 
Salian Franks taking advantage of the absence of 
the Roman legions, have settled themselves finally in 
Northern Gaul. 

In A.i). 406, Stilicho being charged as the author of the 
public misfortunes, was assassinated, and the base Emperor 
Honorius was now left to carry out any dark design he 
might conceive of. The hostages placed in the hands of 
the Romans by the barbarians, as security for their fidelity, 
were all cruelly massacred, on which occasion, 30,000 
soldiers of the confederates went over to Alaric, and urged 
him to avenge their wrongs. Alaric' s demand for compen- 
sation was treated with contempt, and the invasion of Italy 
was resolved upon. In a.d. 408, he traversed the principal 
cities of Upper Italy, and appeared before the walls of 
Rome, closely besieging the city, the inhabitants of which, 
to secure their own safety, and induce the departure of 
Alaric from before their walls, paid to him a ransom of 
5000 lbs. weight of gold, 30,000 of silver, 3000 of pepper, 
together with silk garments and skins of purple dye. With 
these Alaric retired into Tuscany, where he was joined by 
the Gothic and German slaves who had fled from Rome. 

The emperor having violated his treaties with Alaric, the 
Gothic king again besieged the capital, took possession of 
their corn magazine, and thus depriving them of the means 
of sustenance, summoned them to surrender. After a show 
of resistance they opened their gates to the conqueror. 
Upon condition that another emperor should be chosen, he 
generously spared the city. The choice fell upon Attalus, 



A.D. 409—29.] YISIGOTHS — ALAEIC — WALLIA. [§ 5. 

wlio proving as incapable as Honorius, was displaced a.d. 409, 
when the throne was again offered to the latter monarch, 
who received the proposal with disdain, and treated the 
Gothic king with indignity. Alaric now appeared before 
the city for the third time, the Salarian gate {Porta 
Solaria) was opened to him in the night,* and the city was 
given up to pillage for six (?) days. The plunderers then 
set fire to it in several places ; only a small part of it, 
however, was reduced to ashes. Alaric retired towards the 
south of Italy, to Campania, with immense booty, and in a 
few months after, died at Cosentia, whilst projecting the 
conquest of Sicily and Africa. He was buried in the bed 
of a neighbouring rivulet, near Cozenza, and the captives 
employed to dig his grave were put to death, lest they 
should divulge the place of his sepulture. To Alaric suc- 
ceeded Ataulphus, or Adolf, who having contracted an 
alliance with Home, led the Visigoths into Aquitaine 
(a.d. 412), and into Spain (a.d. 414). Wallia, the 
second in succession from Adolf, formed a new contract with 
the empire, and declared war against the other barbarians 
who had invaded Spain. After a series of engagements, he 
exterminated the Silingi, and drove the Suevi, the Alani, 
and the Vandals, into the fastnesses of the mountains of 
G-alicia. Having restored the rest of Spain to the western 
empire, he retired to Tolosa Toulouse, in Aquitaine, making 
it the capital of his new kingdom, which now extended 
to the Pyrenees, and embraced Aquitania and JSTarbonensis 
Gallia Septimania; he died a.d. 418, and was followed 
by Dietrich (Theodoric.) 

Amongst all the provinces of the "Western Empire, none 
dad suffered less from the invasions of the Germans than 
Britain and Northern Africa; the latter, however, was soon 
lost to Rome, through the intrigues of the favourite iEtius. 
Jealous of the rising reputation of Bonifacius, or Boniface, 
the lieutenant-general of the African provinces, iEtius per- 
suaded the Empress Placidia to recal him, and at the 
jsame time privately entreated him not to return, but to 
laave recourse to arms. Diffident of his own resources, 
jBoniface invited over from Vandalasia, in Spain, the Gothic 

* Some doubt is entertained as to whether the gate was opened to 
dim, or whether he took the city by treachery. Whether or no, Eome 
!>as captured by a barbarian. 

27 c2 



A.D. 429 — 50.] TANDALS — BEITAIK — JUTES AND SAXOFS. [§ 6. 

king, Genseric, who soon after took possession of the 
African provinces with 500,000 of his troops, and thus 
founded the Vandal Empire in Africa, a.d. 429, 
(see § 9.) 

On the decline of the Western Empire, the legions of' 
Borne were withdrawn from Southern Britain, when it was 
assailed by the Picts and Scots. Yortigern, who at that 
time enjoyed the supremacy over the Britons, availed him- 
self of the assistance of the Jutes, who, under their 
chieftains Hengist and Horsa, had landed on the coast, 
A.n. 445, in one of their marauding incursions. The Picts 
and Scots were driven back, and the Isle of Thanotos 
Thanet was awarded to the Jutes as their pay. Sub- 
sequently the Jutes increased their demands, which not 
being acceded to, they joined the Picts and Scots, and 
overran the island from west to east ; reverses, however, 
followed, and they were expelled from Britain. Soon after 
they left the Isle of Thanotos, then separated from the 
British coast by a river above a mile in width, and set 
sail for the Cimbric Isle, (Juteland.) Returning with fresh 
bands of adventurers and professing peace, they obtained 
the confidence of the Britons, but whilst celebrating the 
pacification, by an act of treachery they massacred the 
British nobles, and took their king prisoner ; Cantwara, 
Kent, was soon after subdued, and in the course of time, 
seven (?) Anglo-Saxon states or kingdoms were formed, 
viz., Cantwara, Suth Seaxas, "West Seaxas, East Seaxas, , 
jNorthan-Humbria, East Anglia, and Murcia, or Myrcna. 
The native Britons retired into Cornwealas, Cornwall, 
Cambria, Wales, and the districts of the western coasts of 
Britain; they also emigrated to the opposite shores of 
Gaul, in Armorica, Bretagne. 

§6. 

DISSOLUTION OF THE HTTNNISH EMPIEE. 

The Huns having abandoned to the Sienpi the 
pastures of Asia on the confines of China, by a march of 
thirteen hundred leagues, at length arrived in the countries 
of Eastern Europe ; increased in their course by adherents 
from the territories through which they passed, they bore 
down upon the Alani, whom they subdued, and then 
28 



LD. 430—51.] HUNS — ATTILA — TISI GOTHS — THEODOKIC. [§ 6. 

idvanced west upon the Ostrogoths, who had fertilized the 
)lains north of the Danube and of the Black Sea. Having 
conquered them, they wandered for fifty years in the plains 
)f Southern Eussia, Poland, and Hungary, where they 
pastured their herds, and pursued the chase. Under their 
King Attila, orEtzel, (the scourge of God) who reigned 
jonjointly with his brother Bleda (434 to 444), and alone 
rom 444 to 453, they again became formidable, and for a time 
>ccupied an important position in the history of Europe. 

The two emperors of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires hav- 
ng combined, in order to wrest Africa from the Vandals, Genseric sent 
mhassadors to Attila, King of the Huns, to induce him to invade the 
iVestern Empire. After defeating the Greeks under Theodosius in 
hree great battles, the army of the Huns advanced to the very walls of 
Constantinople, which had recently suffered from an earthquake. Not 
jeing prepared to undertake sieges, Attila, (whose ministers had been 
>ribed by presents of large sums of money,) was induced to retire 
>eyond the Danube, on condition that the usual annual tribute (700 lbs. 
>f gold) granted by Arcadius, was increased, and a large portion of the 
Dhracian provinces ceded to him. 

Attila was now acknowledged as king of kings, and soon 
tfter extended his dominion from the confines of China, to 
}he Atlantic ; he ruled over the Ostrogoths on the Lower 
Danube, the Gepidse in Dacia, the Bastarnse, Heruli, Rugi, 
md almost the whole of European Germany and Sarmatia. 
Excited by Genseric against the Visigoths, then in alliance 
frith the Western Empire, and thirsting for the possession 
Df the fertile plains of Italy, Attila on being offered the hand 
:>f Honoria, the sister of Yalentinian III., demanded the 
half of the Western Empire as her dowry. Being refused, 
lie ravaged Illyricum and Greece, and subsequently ad- 
vanced from his Bingus or royal village, on the Theiss, to 
bhe banks of the Rhine, to occupy Gaul, taking with him 
(according to Jornades), upwards of 500,000 soldiers, com- 
posed of Scythians, and the various Germanic nations, 
whom he compelled to follow in his train. The army under 
iEtius, the Roman general, was no less a medley, being 
composed of soldiers of different races and tribes ; Metz 
was destroyed, and the inhabitants massacred ; Tongres was 
also ruined, and Orleans, which the Alans had promised to 
surrender on the arrival of Attila, was besieged. The 
timely arrival of iEtius, and the Yisigothic king Theodoric, 
compelled Alaric to retire just as Orleans was on the eve of 



A.D. 451 — 53.] DEFEAT AND DEATH OF ATTILA. [§ 6. 

falling into his hands ; he then marched to Chalons, whither ' 
he was followed by iEtius and the Yisigoths, who halted 
near a little hillock which divided the two armies, now 
opposite to each other. The battle which followed was 
terrible and obstinate, 162,000 men were left dead on the 
field of the Catalaunian plain, amongst whom was 
the Gothic monarch, Theodoric. Attila was however de- 
feated, and retired from Gaul, which iEtius, whose army was 
not in a condition to follow up the victory, allowed him to 
do without molestation. 

Attila returned to Pannonia, but in the course of the 
following year (452), having again been refused the hand of 
Honoria, he invaded Italy, when he destroyed Aquileia, and 
ravaged Lombardy. At the intercession of pope Leo I., 
accompanied by the ambassadors and senate of Rome, he 
retired, and soon after died of intoxication, at a festival in 
celebration of his marriage, 453 ; his empire perished with 
him. Ardaric, his favourite, founded the monarchy of the 
Gepidae, in Dacia, the very seat of the Hunnish power. 
The Ostrogoths took possession of Pannonia; and Irnak, 
the youngest son of Attila, retired with the Huns into 
Little Tartary, where they were subsequently enslaved by 
the Igours, a Siberian nation. 



THE MIDDLE AGES. 

ElBST PeKIOD. 

From the Dissolution of the "Western Roman Empire to the Accession 
of the Carlovingians and Abassides, 476 — 752 (750). 

§7. 

GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF EUROPE AT THE END OF 

THE FIFTH CENTURY. 

1. In "Western Spain: the kingdom of the Suevi. 2. 
In Spain and Gaul (to the Loire) ; the empire of the Visi- 
goths West Goths. 3. In Northern Gaul and Western 
Germany ; the kingdoms of the Franks, (until 486, subject 
to the Western Eoman Empire.) 4. In Southern Gaul, 
(embracing also the modern Savoy, and a portion of Swit- 
zerland), the kingdom of the Burgundiones. 5. In Britain, 
the British kingdoms, and the early Anglo-Saxon states. 

6. In Scotland, the kingdom of the Picts and the Scots. 

7. In Northern Germany, the Erizii and the Saxons : in 
Central Germany, north of the Danube, the kingdom of 
the Thuringians (comprising various Suevic races) ; on the 
left bank of the middle Danube, the kingdom of the 
Langobardi ; north of the Danube, (in the modern Hun- 
gary, Transylvania, and Wallachia,) the kingdom of the 
Gepidse. 8. In Italy and the country south of the Danube 
and Illyria, the kingdom of the Ostrogoths JEast Goths. 
9. The empire of the Vandals, embracing Northern Africa, 
the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, the Balearic and the Pityusse 
isles. 10. The Eastern Eoman Empire, Byzantine or Greek 
Empire, embracing the Western European provinces of 
Thracia, Macedonia, Moesia, and Grsecia. 

In North-eastern Europe, were the Sclaves, from the Elbe to the 
Danube ; north and east of them were the Fins or Tchudes ; on the 
Don were the Turkish Avars, and in the plains of the Pontus were the 
Huns, who, since the death of Attila, had withdrawn from the countries 
north of the Danube, and intermingled with the various Turkish races 
of Western Asia. 
31 



a.d. 476 — 93.] odoacee's defeat, etc.— theodoeic. [§ 8. 

A. The West. 

§8. 
THE KINGDOMS IN ITALY. 

I. The Italian empire under Odoacer 476 — 
493. 

Odoacer, the commander of the federated soldiers in 
Italy, composed of the Heralians, the Rugians, and other 
Gothic tribes, demanded as a reward for his services, the 
third part of Italy, which being refused, he deposed the 
youthful Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, and exiled him to 
Campania, declaring that one chief was sufficient. The 
Western Roman Empire (476), being thus put an end to, 
and the title of Roman emperor abolished, Odoacer caused 
himself to be proclaimed King of Italy. He did not change 
the imperial government; the senate of Rome continued 
to assemble as usual, the consuls were annually chosen, and 
the municipal and provincial authorities remained as before. 
Zeno, the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, however, 
refused to recognise Odoacer; and, but for the war in 
which he was then engaged with Theodoric, the Gothic 
monarch, would have endeavoured to restore the Italian 
provinces to the empire. At this critical period, the King of 
the Ostrogoths proposed to the Byzantine emperor Zeno, 
a plan by which he should be allowed to re-conquer Italy, 
with his soldiers, and govern it as a dependency of the empire. 
Zeno gladly availed himself of the opportunity of getting rid 
of a neighbour so formidable, and, regardless of the fate of 
Italy, concluded the treaty with Theodoric. The Ostrogoths 
left Thrace, and crossing Moesia, Pannonia, and the Julian 
Alps, entered Italy. After fighting three pitched battles, 
Odoacer quitted the open field, and shut himself up in the 
fortress of Ravenna, where he stood a siege of three years. 
At length however, he was obliged to surrender, and with 
his family and followers was put to death (a.d. 493), at the 
close of a banquet of reconciliation. 

II. Empire of the Ostrogoths in Italy, 493 — 
555. 

Theodoric the Great, (493 — 526) was recognised 
King of Italy by the Emperor Anastasius, who also con- 
32 



A.D. 493 — 526.] THEODORIC — HIS GOVERNMENT. [§ 8. 

ferred upon Theodoric several other provinces, as Illyricum, 
etc. The Groths soon after mastered the territory between 
the Danube and the Alps, and obtained Sicily from the 
Yandals, when the imperial residence was sometimes fixed at 
Ravenna, and sometimes at Verona or Bern, hence his name 
of Dietrich von Bern, (the designation given him by the 
Grermans). Theodoric was less solicitous for the extension 
of his monarchy by conquest, than for its internal prosperity, 
and during the whole thirty-three years of his reign, only 
took up arms to defend the frontiers of his kingdom against 
the Franks and the Burgundiones. 

In the war between the Franks and the Visi or "West Goths, now 
united with the Ostro or East Goths, Theodoric took part with his 
grandson Amalric, and at the conclusion of the struggle, added to his 
territory the country lying between the Durance and the sea. 

Internal History and Government of Theodoric. 

On the subjection of Italy, the Groths had been so long engaged in 
war, that they had lost the habit of labour, hence they would not 
cultivate the waste districts with whicli Italy abounded, but chose out of 
the estates of the Eomans one third of their possessions, and probably 
imposed on them also the handing over of one third of their crops, 
which perhaps were compensated for by the liberties of the Romans being 
secured to them by Theodoric, who allowed the constitution of Italy to 
remain unchanged ; the legislation and the senate continued as before, 
whilst the governors of the provinces 'were usually selected from the 
Roman people, to whom also were committed the interests of trade and 
commerce, arms being the exclusive occupation of the Gfoths, to whom 
was entrusted the sole defence of the kingdom. Towards the close of 
Theodoric' s reign, the Romans were not allowed even to wear a 
sword. At first the dominion of Theodoric over the Romans was 
absolute and despotic, but over the Goths his power was limited and 
circumscribed. Although Theodoric had embraced Arianism during his 
residence (as an hostage) at Constantinople, yet he granted perfect 
toleration to the Catholics. Anxious to preserve the Roman monuments 
from spoliation, he assigned an annual revenue for their restoration ; 
he likewise encouraged agriculture and commerce, and commenced the 
draining of the Pontine marshes. Towards the close of his life Theodoric 
became irritable and suspicious to a degree, in consequence of the many 
obscure conspiracies entered into to restore the Roman empire. Hence 
the end of his reign was sullied by the cruel death of two conspirators, 
the senators Boethius and Symmachus, whom he condemned more perhaps 
on suspicion, than on any proof of real guilt. He died on the 30th of 
August, 526, just as he was about to set on foot a persecution of the 
Catholics of Italy, in retaliation for that of the Arians at Constanti- 
nople. 

To Theodoric succeeded Athalaric, under the guar- 
33 c 3 



A.D. 534 — 39.] WAES OF THE OSTEOGOTHS AND EMPIEE. [§ 8. 

dianship of his mother Amalasonta, who governed over the 
Ostrogoths in Italy and Provence, and reigned as regent. 
Athalaric, who gave himself up to drunkenness and de- 
bauchery, died of disease in 534, at the early age of sixteen, 
and Amalasonta was allowed to choose her cousin T h e u d a t, 
or Theodatus, as the future partner of her throne. Soon 
after, she was arrested by order of her colleague, and stran- 
gled whilst taking a bath, 535. After her death, the Emperor 
Justinian under the pretext of avenging her cause, prepared 
for the invasion of Italy, which he resolved to do by the 
same general who had acquired such glory in defeating 
the Yandals in Africa. 

Commencement of. The Eighteen Tears' War 
between the Ostrogoths and the Eastern Empire, (533 — 553.) 
Belisarius, whose army amounted to 4,000 horse, and 
3,000 Isaurian foot soldiers, landed in Sicily in 535, and in 
the first campaign conquered that island. In 536 he trans- 
ported his army to Reggio in Campania, and proceeded along 
the coast, accompanied by his fleet, until he arrived at Naples. 
Suddenly the Calabrians passed over to the standard of the 
empire, when the Goths perceived that they had been be- 
trayed, and Theodatus, like a coward, shut himself up in 
Rome whilst Naples was besieged by the enemy, to whom 
it surrendered. The Goths, who yet numbered 250,000 
warriors, became dispirited and dispersed. Under V i t i g e s, 
whom they elected king in the room of Theodatus, who had 
been killed by a private enemy, 536, they again assembled. 
Vitiges evacuated the capital, and fell back upon Ravenna, 
to restore the discipline of his army. In his extremity, he 
demanded the succour of the Eranks, when a dreadful in- 
vasion of that barbarian people took place, in which Milan 
and Genoa were destroyed. In 538, the Goths under 
Vitiges, appeared before Home, and besieged it for a whole 
year, during which period the Gothic army was almost 
annihilated, either by the sword or famine, the pressure of 
which nearly destroyed the inhabitants and garrison of 
Rome, whose courage was only kept up by the intrepidity 
and perseverance of Belisarius. The Goths retired, and 
in 539, Vitiges surrendered the city of Ravenna, and was 
allowed to end his days in comparative affluence at Constan- 
tinople. Belisarius was recalled by Justinian, and on his 
retirement, the Goths of Pavia, the only city that held out 
34, 



A.D. 532 — 68.] EXPULSION OE THE GOTHS EEOM ITALY. [§ 8. 

against the Bomans, elected Hildebald as their king. 
Under his second successor T o t i 1 1 a, the broken fortunes 
of the Groths were revived, and they became almost as 
powerful as before the commencement of the war. The 
lost territories were recovered. Belisarius being withdrawn 
from Africa, where he was quelling an insurrection, was again 
despatched to Italy, but without an army. On the arrival 
of JNT a r s e s with supplies, 552, a dispute having arisen 
respecting the plan of the campaign, Belisarius was again 
recalled, and the war was committed to Narses alone, who 
received the title of Proconsul. The army of JNTarses, and 
that of his followers, including his Langobardic and Herulic 
auxiliaries, amounted to thirty thousand men. With these 
he defeated the Groths at Tajina, and Totilla was slain, 552. 
T e j a s was next raised to the Ostrogothic throne of Pavia, 
but at the battle of Nocera he was slain, and the Gothic 
dominion in Italy was at an end, 553. One portion of the 
Goths capitulated, on condition of being permitted to retire 
from Italy, whilst a yet larger number induced two Alemannic 
princes to undertake the invasion of Italy. Joined by a large 
body of Franks, they entered the Italian territories, but 
Narses completely routed the combined forces, and compelled 
the remnant of the Groths to submit, 555. Italy now be- 
came a province of the Eastern Empire, the government of 
which was administered by an exarch, Narses being the first. 

III. — B yzantine Government in Italy, 555 

—558. 

Eor thirteen years after the victories of Narses, Italy was 
governed in the name of the emperor of Constantinople by 
Exarchs, who resided at Eavenna ; but in 568, the Lango- 
bardic invasion took place, and the exarchate was limited by 
the conquests of the Lombards to Ravenna, the Pentapolis, 
la Bomagna and some small possessions on the eastern coast. 

IV. — The Kingdom of the Langobardi 
or Lombards, 568—774. 

On their return from Italy, the Lombards, who had 
mainly contributed to the conquest of that country by the 
valiant auxiliaries they had furnished to Narses, engaged in 
an expedition against the Gepidse, under the leadership of their 
heroic prince A lb o in, heir to the throne. The youthful 
35 



A.D. 566—73.] THE LOMBAEDS IN ITALY. [§ 8. 

warrior had before slain the King of the Gepidse and effected 
his escape, and afterwards inflicted a fresh outrage on that 
nation by seizing the fair Eosarnunde, the daughter of 
Cunimunde, one of their princes. This hostility broke out 
on the accession of Alboin and Cunimunde to the throne 
of their fathers. The former sought the assistance of the 
Saxons, and obtained the help of the Khan of the Avars, 
with whom he stipulated a division of the territory of the 
Grepidse, in the event of their being subdued, and also the 
cession of the Lombard territories, engaging to seek his 
fortune elsewhere. The Gepidse were overthrown in a great 
battle, 566, and the Lombards gave up Pannonia and Noricum, 
of which they had held undisputed possession for forty-two 
years, to their allies. Alboin now prepared for the conquest 
of Italy ; twenty thousand Saxons, and all the Gepidse who 
had fallen under his sway, were enrolled in his battalions, 
and amongst his allies were the Boiares, Bavarians. The 
exarch Longinus, who had succeeded the aged Narses, 
accused, probably without foundation, of inviting the Lom- 
bards to invade Italy, and thus to avenge himself on the 
Empress Sophia, by whom he had been displaced, shut him- 
self up in Bavenna. Pavia sustained a siege of three years, 
when it surrendered, and was made the capital of the Lom- 
bard kingdom. During the siege of Pavia, the Lombards 
made an irruption into Provence, the conquest of which 
they achieved. All the great towns in the interior of Italy 
capitulated, and were divided amongst the Lombardian 
dukes ; but those on the coast, as Pisa, Rome, Gaeta, Naples, 
Amalfi, Eavenna, etc., were faithful to the Greeks, and 
opened their gates for the reception of the fugitive wan- 
derers from the besieged cities of the interior. The nu- 
merous inhabitants driven out of Yenetia, found a refuge in 
the Lagunes of the Adriatic, and had the Lombards under- 
stood the arts used in sieges, not any portion of Italy would 
have been left to the Eastern Empire. 

Alboin, three years and a half after the fall of Pavia, was assassinated 
by the order of Rosamunde, to whom he had at a banquet sent the 
skull of her father filled with wine, commanding her " to drink with her 
father" After the death of Alboin, she escaped to the exarch Longinus, 
accompanied by the regicide Helmichis. Captivated with the exarch, 
she poisoned Helmichis, but was compelled by him to finish the contents 
of the fatal cup, when she expired. 

On the death of Alboin, (573) Clef, or K 1 e p h, was 
36 



A.D. 573-756.] ERANKS IN ITALY — LOMBARDS DEFEATED. [§ 8. 

elected to the vacant throne, and during his reign the Lom- 
bard kingdom was extended over nearly the whole of Italy, 
only a few maritime districts on the coast being reserved to 
the Greeks. Kleph had occupied the throne only eighteen 
months, when he was assassinated by one of his pages. At 
his death the throne continued vacant for ten years, during 
which period an oligarchy prevailed, each province, of 
which there were thirty-six, being governed by a duke or 
president, the chief among whom were the Dukes of Priuli 
and Beneventum. To control the power of the dukes, and to 
protect the rights of the people, it was afterwards found neces- 
sary to appoint a chief; hence Antheric, the son of Kleph, 
was raised to the vacant throne. Under this sovereign, the 
conversion of the Lombards from the Arian to the Catholic 
faith was attempted by Theodolinda, a Bavarian princess, 
the consort of Antheric. Under succeeding monarchs, the 
Lombard kingdom was considerably extended at the expense 
of the Byzantines, who lost all their territories but some 
districts in Calabria and around Naples. Borne itself at 
length was surrounded by the Lombards, and Bavenna was 
already in their possession. The pope, Stephen II., in his 
distress, accompanied by his clergy, covered with sackcloth 
and ashes, crossed the Alps into Prancia, and supplicated the 
assistance of Pepin the Short, le JBref, whom he crowned for 
the second time, and anointed with a blessed oil, said to be 
miraculous. Pepin commanded the Lombards to restore 
the Pentapolis, as well as Carni, and Ceccano, in the Boman 
duchy, which being refused, the Pranks passed the Alps 
and compelled the Lombards to retire upon Pavia, to which 
the Pranks laid siege. The pope fearing that the supremacy 
of the Pranks might be as fatal as that of the Lombards, 
mediated a peace, by the terms of which the disputed pos- 
sessions were to be restored to the papal see. Astolphus, the 
Lombard monarch, however, on the -departure of the Pranks, 
refused the cession of the lands, and prepared for future 
resistance. In the second campaign urged upon the Pranks 
by Pope Stephen, the Lombards were driven from before 
Borne, and again took refuge in Pavia, which after a siege of 
some months capitulated, and Pepin compelled the restora- 
tion of the cities of Bavenna, JEmili, Centapoli, and the 
duchy of Borne, which were restored to the church and not 
to the empire ; thus laying the foundation of the temporal 
37 



A.D. 429 — 534.] THE VANDALS — THET INVADE ITALY. [§ 9. 

power of the Eoman See. Astolphus died 756, and Pope 
Stephen II. in 757. In 773, Charlemagne forced the passage 
of the Alps on behalf of Pope Stephen III., and demanded 
of D i d i e r, who had succeeded Astolphus, the fulfilment 
of the conditions imposed upon his predecessors. Pavia 
was besieged, and Didier with his family were given up to 
Charles, who sent them to a prison at Liege. The Lango- 
bardic kingdom was now incorporated with that of the 
Pranks, but the duchy of Beneventum refused to submit to 
the authority of the conqueror, and became an asylum for 
the Lombardian refugees from the other provinces, 774. 
See § 20. 

§9. 

THE EMPIRE OF THE VANDALS IN AFRICA, 429—534. 

Extent of the Yandal Empire, a. in Africa. — 
In the beginning, (429-30,) the empire embraced the 
Eastern portion of Numidia, Africa Propria, and Byzacene 
(the Syrtis district). After 430, on the defeat of Boniface, 
and the fall of Carthage, the Borne of Africa, the Vandal 
empire extended along the Northern coast, from the Pillars 
of Hercules, to the extreme limits of Cyrenacia. b. In the 
Middle Sea, Mediterranean, the Islands of Corsica, Sardinia, 
Sicily, and the Baleares and Pityusae Islands — (476 — 491). 

History. Prom the shores of the Baltic, in what is 
now called Pomerania, the Yandals were driven to take up 
their abode in Dacia and Sarmatia, then in Pannoma and 
G-allia, and at a later period, in 406, together with the 
Suevi and Alani, to migrate into Spain, where, being over- 
powered by the Goths, they subsequently, at the request of 
Theodosius, passed over to Africa, where, in 534, they were 
subdued by Justinian. On the death of Yalentian III., by 
the hand of Maximus, who compelled his widow to marry 
him, in order to give him some show of right to the vacant 
throne, Eudoxia resolved to revenge the murder of her first 
husband by conspiring against the life of the second, regard- 
less of the interests of Borne. She therefore invited Greiseric, 
the King of the G-oths, over into Italy, who, not content with 
the possession of Africa, had already, by his armed fleets, 
which he obtained from Carthage, ravaged the coasts of 
Sicily and Italy. In 455, Greiseric disembarked at Ostia ; 



A.D. 468—534.] DESTRUCTION OF THE VANDAL EMPIEE. [§ 9. 

and Maximus was slain in a seditious tumult, and the 
defence of B,ome was impossible ; it was given up to pillage 
for fourteen days, after which the ships of the Vandals set 
sail from the Tiber with a booty, which it would have been 
impracticable to have carried off by land. Amongst the 
spoils, were thousands of noble captives, including Eudoxia 
the queen, and the two princesses. The Vandals were next 
employed in devastating the -coasts of Illyria and Greece; 
and to clear the seas of these piratical fleets, the emperors of 
the East and West combined their ships, amounting to 1,000 
sail, and entrusted the command to Belisarius. G-eiseric, 
however, attacked the imperial fleet in the night and de- 
stroyed a large portion, whilst the rest were dispersed (468.) 

On the accession of Odoacer, the king of the Heruli, to the kingdom 
of Italy (476,) the Vandals obtained, as pay for their services, the islands 
of Sardinia, Corsica, the Baleares, the Pityusa3, and the southern part 
of Sicily. 

"With the death of the founder Greiseric, who reigned 
thirty-seven years over Carthage, 477, commenced the 
decline of the Vandal empire. It was hastened by the 
persecutions carried on in the name of the Arian faith 
against the Catholics, and which were begun in the time 
of Geiseric, who had embraced the Arian faith. Grelimer 
having conspired against Hilderic, who succeeded Geiseric, 
took possession of the throne, when Justinian, who wished 
to regain the African provinces, profiting by the state of 
anarchy into which the kingdom was plunged, despatched 
Belisarius under the pretence of effecting the restoration 
of Hilderic. In 533, he landed at Caput Vedse, and, by 
his consummate address, so Romanised the Africans, that 
Gelimer found himself with his Vandals in the midst of 
an enemy's territory. With all the troops he could muster 
G-elimer attacked Belisarius near Carthage, but only to be 
signally defeated ; his army was routed, and he himself fled 
to the deserts of Numidia. Carthage surrendered without 
opposition. Gelimer recalling his brother from Sardinia, 
collected another army, fought and lost another battle, when 
Africa was reconquered, and the empire of the Vandals 
destroyed (534.) 

Grelimer, who graced the triumphal procession of Belisarius into 
Constantinople, received ample possessions in G-alatia, where he enjoyed 
the blessings of peace, surrounded in his old age by his dearest kinsmen 
39 



a.d. 409—585.] suevi m spain - — visigoths. [§ 10, 11. 

and friends. The bravest of the Vandals enlisted in the troops of the 
empire, whilst the rest, involved in the revolutions of Africa, in the course 
of time entirely disappear. 

§ io. 

KINGDOM OF THE SUEYI IN SPAIN, 409—585. 
The Suevi, after their immigration into Spain from 
Gaul, had settled in Galicia, which they divided with the 
Vandals ; on the departure of the latter for Africa the 
Suevi occupied their territories also, and garrisoned the 
whole of Boetica with Carthaginenses. Their first Chris- 
tian (Catholic) king, Eechiar, was continually making inroads 
upon the Roman province of Tarraconensis, which at length 
drew upon him the vengeance of the Gothic king, Theo- 
doric, who had engaged to combat the enemies of Honorius. 
The two armies met at Paramo, on the Obrego, where 
Eechiar was defeated, and being taken prisoner, executed 
by order of his brother-in-law Theodoric. The Suevi, as a 
nation, now seemed to be at an end, but a portion of the 
people fled to the mountains of Galicia, where they 
elected another sovereign, and resumed their plundering 
expeditions. On the succession to the Suevic throne being 
disputed, advantage was taken of the disorder which per- 
vaded the kingdom by the Visigoths, who broke in upon it, 
and subverted it (585,) — henceforth it was blended with the 
Visigothic empire. 

§11. 

EMPIRE OE THE VISIGOTHS, 419—712. 

(1. Kingdom of Tolosa, Toulouse?) 

Towards the year 270, the Goths settled on the Danube 
and on the coasts of the Pontian (Uuxine) Sea, and became 
neighbours of the Empire. This proximity rendered them 
more civilized than any of the other German tribes, and also 
tended to make their progress in the social sciences more 
rapid. They were the first to embrace Christianity {Arian- 
ism,) and a translation of the four Gospels by Ulphilas, a 
Gothic bishop, in the middle of the fourth century, forms 
the most ancient specimen of the German language extant. 
In military glory they were not at all inferior to other 
Germans ; for, before the close of the fourth century, they 
had intimidated the emperors of the Eastern Empire, into the 
40 



A.D. 410 — 507.] OSTEO AND VISIGOTHS — THEODOEIC II. [§ 11. 

cession of Dacia, and the Prefecture of Illyricum, and at 
the commencement of the fifth century had thrice besieged 
the capital of the "Western Empire, which was rescued from 
their grasp only by the payment of immense ransoms. In 
thus invading Italy, Alaric opened to his countrymen the 
provinces of Gaul, into which, in 410, he penetrated by 
crossing the Alps into Gallia JNarbonensis, Aquitania. 
Narbona, Tolosa, Burdigala Bordeaux, and other towns 
were taken possession of. In 418, on the return of Wallia 
from Spain, the Gothic dominion extended from Tolosa the 
capital, to the ocean, and was the first kingdom founded 
by the barbarians within the Roman empire. On the 
invasion of Gaul by the Huns under Attila, the Visigoths 
assisted the Franks in repelling them, and the victory of the 
Catalaunian plains and the defeat of the Huns, were mainly 
due to the valour of the Goths, who lost their king in the 
battle. 

With the consent of Avitus proclaimed Emperor of Rome 
by the Visigoths, to whose king, Theodoric II., he had 
been despatched as delegate, the barbarian tribes of the 
Suevi, Alani, etc., in Spain, were to be again attacked, and 
if possible subdued, whilst the conquered territory was to be 
secured to Theodoric, who crossed the Pyrenees, and sub- 
dued nearly the whole of the Suevic kingdom, the monarch 
of which was executed. Under his brother and successor, 
E u r i c, the Visigothic Empire of Tolosa obtained its 
utmost limits. He repulsed the Bretons, whom the Em- 
peror Anthemius had summoned to his assistance. In 475, 
he subdued the province of Auvergne, and extended his 
frontiers to the Loire and the Rhone. In Spain, he sub- 
jected the whole of Tarraconensis, and finally subdued the 
whole of Provence. In 480, he died at Aries, leaving a son 
of tender years to succeed him, hence the extent of the 
kingdom was of short duration. An able warrior had become 
the chief of the Pranks (Chlodvig III.,) who soon, under 
the pretence of defending the Catholics, attacked the Arian 
Visigoths. The armies of the Pranks and the Visigoths met 
at the Plains of Vougle. After an obstinate engage- 
ment, the Goths gave way. . Alaric, the youthful monarch, 
fell in the battle (507.) Aquitania and Septimania Gothia, 
Guienne and Gascogne, were lost to the Pranks. The 
Visigoths assembled at Narbona, and elected Gesalic 
41 



A.D. 507 — 581.] AMALAEIC — WEST GOTHIC KINGDOM. [§ 11. 

to the vacant throne, Amalaric being but five years of age. 
The Burgundians now joined the Franks ; whilst Theodoric, 
the King of the Ostrogoths, despatched his general Ibbas 
from Italy to assist his countrymen, the Visigoths. Their 
combined forces defeated the Burgundians and the Franks, 
and compelled them to withdraw from before Aries, which 
they were besieging, and also forced Clovis, the King 
of the Franks, to raise the siege of Carcasonne. Theodoric, 
however, stopped short, and instead of pursuing his success, 
turned his forces against Gesalic, and caused Amalaric, 
his grandson, to be crowned in his stead. Gresalic, who 
received assistance from the Vandals and the Franks, 
endeavoured to regain his throne, but was made a prisoner 
and put to death by order of Ibbas (511.) The war was 
still continued between the Goths (now united) and the 
Franks, but without giving rise to any memorable actions. 
Clovis preserved Tolosa, Burdegalis, Bourdeauoc, and Aqui- 
tania. The Visigoths occupied Narbonnensis and Spain; 
the Ostrogoths, Provence as far as the Rhone; and 
Theodoric, as guardian of his grandson Amalaric, reigned 
equally over the two nations until his death, when the 
kingdom was divided between his grandsons. Amalaric, who 
reigned over the Visigoths, married the sister of the King of 
the Franks, but his subsequent ill-treatment of the princess 
led to a war ; Amalaric fled from Narbona to Barcelona, 
where he was slain by a soldier in an insurrection which 
his cowardice had prompted, and thus the royal line of the 
Gothic monarchs ended, 581. The capital was now trans- 
ferred to Barcelona, and afterwards to Toletum. 

II. — West Gothic {elective) Kingdom in 
Spain, 531— 7 L2. 

At the commencement of this period, the Gothic monarchy 
appears to have been either elective or hereditary, according 
to circumstances. T h e u d a s, the first king chosen, was 
assassinated, and others also, until, in 550, Athanagild 
being elected, obtained the assistance of Justinian, for which 
he ceded the south-eastern coast of the Spanish peninsula. 
On the death of Athanagild, the throne was occupied by 
Leovigild, one of the greatest of the Gothic kings. He 
took the towns held by the empire on the coast, and sub- 
dued the rebellious Suevi, incorporating their kingdom into 
42 



A.D. 550 — 700.] VISIGOTHS — LEOVIGILD TO EODEEIC. [§ 11. 

his own, as a tributary state. The Gothic kingdom now 
embraced nearly the whole peninsula, Toletum being the 
capital. The reign of Leovigild was marked by the reform 
which took place in the legislation and finances. 

On the expulsion of the Greeks from Spain, the natural 
limits of the Gothic kingdom were fixed, and less efforts 
were put forth for its extension ; a bond of union now also 
existed between the Goths and the Greeks, in the adoption 
of the Catholic faith by E e c a r e d, the king of the former, 
who persuaded the nation generally to embrace it (584.) 
The reign of Eecared was more glorious than peaceful. 
He subdued the King of Austrasia, but a lasting peace was 
insured by his intermarriage with the sister of the king. 
He died esteemed and regretted, 601. 

After the death of Eecared, the kingdom was torn by 
internal factions, and for upwards of twenty years confusion 
and disorder prevailed. Amongst the usurpers, who reigned 
during this period, one only deserves mention, S i g e b e r t, 
who added Mauritania (North African Coast,) to the Gothic 
empire. In 622, the race of Leovigild was recalled to the 
throne in the person ofSuintila, who finally drove out the 
Greeks from the few cities they had hitherto occupied on 
the coast. He was deposed, 631, and for forty years Spain 
was distracted by the contests of a rapid succession of kings, 
representatives of factions and cabals. In 672, Wamba, 
a noble Goth, was compelled to forsake his retirement and 
accept the crown. He reigned usefully and triumphed over 
his enemies. The rebels in Austrasia were subdued, and a 
splendid naval victory was obtained over the Arabians, who 
had now begun to infest the coasts of Spain and Africa. 
After a reign of nine years, he retired to a monastery, and 
appointed E r v i g a as his successor, who also after a peace- 
able reign of eight years retired to a monastery. E g i z a, a 
nephew of "Wamba, was now seated upon the throne, and 
after defeating the Arabs, pursued his legislative labours. He 
blended the Eoman and the Gothic laws, which he caused 
to be obeyed throughout the peninsula, the Gothic, and 
original inhabitants of which were thenceforward called 
Spaniards, (700). Under "Witiza, who commenced 
his reign well, but subsequently became a tyrant, the nation 
rebelled and elected Eoderic in his room, who proved 
unequal to restore the strength of the weakened kingdom, 
43 



A.D. 700—56.] MOHAMMEDAN CONQUESTS IN SPAIN. [§ 12. 

and indulged in every species of licentiousness ; having 
outraged one of the noble females who attended upon his 
queen, the daughter of Count Julian, the governor of the 
Spanish province of Mauritania, that nobleman opened his 
fortresses to the Arabs, who had settled upon the African 
coasts, and obtained their help in revenging the indignities 
offered to his house. Murza, the Arab commander, de- 
spatched his lieutenant Taric, who, with Count Julian, 
crossed the straits and landed at Gibraltar. Eoderic met 
the Arabs at Xeres de la Frontera, where after a 
struggle of three days (nine days ?) the engagement termi- 
nated rather in favour of the invaders. Towards the end of 
the engagement, Eoderic disappeared (711). Muza now 
joined his lieutenant, and proceeded in the conquest of 
Spain without opposition, excepting at Gruadalete, where 
Theodomir, a noble Groth, held out, but at length surrendered 
on favourable conditions. The dissensions between Muza 
and Taric, arising out of the jealousy of the former, led the 
caliph to recal both. Spain was now divided into (1) — 
Arabian Spain, at first under the governors of the caliphs of 
Damasek, Damascus, until Abderrahaman, the last of the 
Ommiades, fleeing from the massacre at Persia, arrived in 
Spain, where he erected the independent Khalifate of 
Cordova (756) . (2) The Christian kingdom of Asturias, 
whither a remnant of the Visigoths had retreated, and where 
they still defended themselves against the Arabs, thus laying 
the foundation of the future triumphs of the Christian over 
the Mohammedan population of Spain. 

§ 12. 
THE KINGDOM OF THE BUKG-UKDIONES (BUKaiTlN- 

DIANS) m GAUL, (407—533?) 
In the first century of the Christian era, the Burgun- 
diones appear near the Weichsel ; they belonged either to 
the Suevic or Vandalic race. The loss of a battle against the 
G-epidse about the year 250, induced them to advance towards 
the west. They first came into contact with the Romans 
during the reign of Probus, and afterwards invaded the 
G-allic provinces with various success ; but in the reign of 
Honorius that emperor ceded to them lands in the Roman 
G-ermania Superior, Alsace, near the banks of the Rhine. 
Subsequently on the dissolution of the "Western Empire, 
44 



A.D. 407 — 533.] KINGDOM OF THE BURGTJIirDIAlS'S. [§ 13. 

they extended themselves in the east as far as the Aar to 
the Alps, in the south to the Durance, and in the west over 
the valleys of the Shone and Saone. These countries 
formed " The Kingdom of the Burgundians." At first, the 
head of the nation was a high priest, who was elected to the 
office for life. Their kings, for each band had its com- 
mander or king, resided at Geneva, and at Lyons, Be- 
sancon, and Vienne ; they were elected, but liable to rejec- 
tion in case of failure in war, or for personal deformity, 
and in the time of famine, when, as agriculture and pastur- 
age formed the principal occupation of the free Burgun- 
dians, a commander was considered to be unnecessary. In 
515, Sigismund the son of Grondebod, ascended the throne, 
but having by his conduct incurred the resentment of 
Theodoric the Ostrogothic king, the latter stirred up Clo- 
tilda, whose father and mother had been put to death by 
Grondebod, the father of Sigismund, to make war against 
him and thus to be revenged. The Prankish princes, her 
sons, at once entered Burgundy, and having vanquished 
Sigismund, compelled him to take refuge in the convent of 
St. Maurice Yalais, which he had founded, and where he hoped 
to be secure. He was, however, discovered', and was, with 
his wife and family, thrown into a well at Caulmiers near 
Orleans, 524. A second campaign of the Franks against 
the Burgundians was not so successful ; Clodomir, the eldest 
of the Prankish kings, lost his life, and the territory was 
evacuated. Grondemar, the brother of Sigismund, carried 
on the struggle during a period of ten years, and was at 
last made prisoner, when the provinces of Burgundy were 
ruled over by the descendants of Clovis. The Burgundians 
were now reduced and obliged to serve in the armies of the 
Franks, and all the provinces were to pay tribute. The 
national independence, the laws, and manners of the people, 
were however retained, (533, 534.) 

§ 13. 
THE KINGDOM OF THE EKANKS UNDER THE MEEO- 

YINGIANS. 

The Franks were cantoned between the Saxons and the 

Grauls, and were a confederacy of tribes, each maintaining 

its independency, and having a separate king, probably 

however, of the same family, and of which the primitive 

45 



A.D. 241 — 496.] KINGDOM OF THE FEATSTKS — CHLODVIG. [§ 13. 

ancestor was Meroveus, Meerevig, warrior of the sea. 
The name of Franks, however, does not appear in history 
until the year 241 ; it signifies a confederation, and was 
originally formed for the deliverance of Germany from the 
bondage of Rome. Since the middle of the first century, 
the Franks had often harassed the Romans, by crossing 
the Rhine, and ravaging the province of Gaul; at 
length they were allowed, on condition of being the per- 
petual allies of Rome, to establish themselves in Toxandria, 
Zeeland and North Flanders. In this relation they proved 
valuable auxiliaries to the empire, the frontiers of which 
they bravely, but vainly defended agaiust the grand invasion 
of 406. Before the beginning of the fifth century, they had 
received large allotments of land as Roman soldiers, and 
had also seized considerable tracts of territory in the neigh- 
bouring provinces belonging to the barbarians. Hence they 
established themselves firmly along the left bank of the 
Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt. They were divided 
into two grand branches, the Saltan and the Ripuarian 
Franks ; the former being sometimes termed the Franks of 
Tournay, the latter the Franks of Cologne. Under C h 1 o d- 
vig (Clovis), the grandson of Meroveus, who succeeded 
his father Childeric 481, and Ragnacer, King of the Franks 
of Cambray, an end was put to the supremacy of Rome, by 
the defeat and death of their governor Siagrius, at Sois- 
sons, 486 ; afterwards the territory on the Seine, and the 
whole of Armorica, fell to the Franks. Chlodvig was now 
united to the niece of Gondebod, the powerful King of the 
Burgundians, who had banished her. To be revenged, she 
sought to convert Chlodvig to the Catholic faith, and thus 
make him an implacable enemy to the Burgundians and 
Alemanni, who had embraced the Arian creed. In 496 the 
territories of the Franks were invaded by the Arian Alemanni, 
when the whole of the Frankish tribes assembled to repel it 
under their respective kings ; the two armies met at T o 1 b i a- 
cum (Zulich?), and the Franks were on the eve of being 
defeated, when Chlodvig vowed to renounce the worship 
of the German deities (yet venerated by the whole of the 
Frankish tribes) and to embrace the Catholic faith, if he 
won the victory. During the interval, the King of the 
Alemanni was slain and his warriors put to flight. 
Those who had entered Gaul acknowledged Chlodvig as 
46 



A.D. 496 — 511.] THE EBENCH MONAECHY. [§ 13. 

their king, and thus placed him at the head of a great army. 
On the return of the king to Rheims, on Christmas day, 
496, he, with three thousand warriors, was baptized into 
the orthodox Catholic faith, which considerably augmented 
his power, and added to the ranks of his army ; the Armori- 
cans after being defeated, joined his ranks, which were also 
swelled by the addition of the Roman soldiers scattered 
throughout Graul. Chlodvig, having reduced the Roman 
provinces in Graul, next directed his arms against the Bur- 
Igundians and the Visigoths, who had established themselves 
| within the territory. In one battle, he rendered the Bur- 
gundian princes tributary to him ; in another, on the plains 
of Vougle, broke the power of the Visigoths, wresting 
several provinces from them, and would have driven them 
across the Pyrenees, had not Theodoric the Ostrogoth 
: hastened to their assistance. Chlodvig, whose zeal for the 
Catholic faith would not permit the Arian Groths to 
possess the best part of Graul, prepared an expedition to 
attack them. The Franks passed the Loire, and traversed 
Touraine, then a part of the Visigothic kingdom, until at 
last the armies met on the Plains of Vougle; the 
combat was obstinate, and Alaric, the Visigothic king, fell 
in the battle, and according to some, by the hand of Chlodvig 
himself; the Visigoths dispersed in all directions. Their 
principal cities Rhodez, Albe, Bordeaux, Toulouse, and 
Angoulesme, in Southern Graul, submitted to the conqueror ; 
the remnant of the defeated Goths took refuge in Carcasoune, 
where they were besieged. On his return from the Visigothic 
war Clovis established himself in Paris, which he made 
the capital of his kingdom; and by causing all the other 
long-haired Prankish kings to be massacred, the founda- 
tion of the Prench monarchy was established. The 
great features in the reign of Chlodvig were the infusion 
of the elements of Roman law into the German code, the 
constitution of which was not abolished, and his extending 
it over all his newly-acquired dominion, and the foundation 
of a territorial dukedom, which subsequently became en- 
larged and formed the German empire. On the death of 
Chlodvig 511, the Prankish kingdom was divided among 
his four sons, (according to Agathias,) by towns and by 
people, so that each had nearly an equal share — Paris, 
Orleans, Soissons, and Metz being the capital cities. The 
47 



A.D. 511 — 55.] EEANKS — DIETEICH, THEODOBEBT, ETC. [§ 13. 

eldest, Dietrich (Thierry), of Metz, received the so-called 
kingdom of Austrasia (Eastern France), embracing 
the earlier possessions of the Franks in the Netherlands 
and Grermany, with the newly- conquered territory of Ale- 
mannia. Neustria, or New Franc ia (Western 
France), formed another sovereignty. The sons, following 
in the steps of their ancestor, with the aid of the Saxons 
subdued in 528 the Thuringian kingdom, which was 
united to the monarchy of the Franks, and its dukes for 
two centuries marched under the standard of the Mero- 
vingians, and between 523 — 533 the great kingdom of the 
Burgundians was subjugated; its independence, how- 
ever, was soon after recovered by the very monarch by 
whom it was betrayed. 

In 534, when Justinian by his general Belisarius, pro- 
posed to draw the Goths out of Italy, the assistance of the 
Franks was invoked by both parties — Theodatus agreed as 
the price of their alliance to yield that part of Graul which 
lay between the Alps, the Durance, the Rhone, and the 
sea (Provence), besides the Alemannic territory, and part 
of Yenetia, with two thousand pounds' weight of gold, whilst 
the Emperor Justinian despatched a splendid embassy with 
valuable presents, which were accepted. To secure the 
proffered territory as well, and at the same time to prevent 
a quarrel with the emperor, Theodobert, who had succeeded 
Dietrich, sent ten thousand Burgundians to the assistance 
of Vitiges, the Grothic king, but pretended that they acted as 
auxiliaries in the Italian army without his authority, and 
afterwards attacked both. Soon after, the Boioares (Bava- 
rians) became partially tributary to the Austrasian Franks ; 
they were, however, allowed to be governed by their own 
dukes who were elective. The accession of this duchy 
extended the Frankish dominions east nearly to Vienna, but 
on the advance of the Avars it was restricted to the Ems. 

For forty-eight years the Frankish monarchy had been 
divided. But Clotaire I., who, together with his brother 
Childebert, succeeded to the throne, of Austrasia (555), was 
ambitious to secure for himself undivided dominion. He 
accordingly suggested to the Austrasian states that, as his 
brother in the course of nature could not survive for any 
lengthened period, and had no heirs, his dominions would 
soon fall to his share, it would therefore be to their interest 
48 



§ 13.] PROVINCES OF THE FRANKISH EMPIRE. [558 A.D. 

to acknowledge him sole king at once. This was agreed to. 
Childebert, however, urged the son of Clotaire to rebel against 
his father, and assisted him in it, but was shortly taken ill 
and died (558), whereupon Clotaire re-united the whole 
dominion of Chlodvig (Clovis). At his death (562), the king- 
dom was again divided among his four sons. 

After this, the conquests of the Franks abroad cease, and 
evil wars commence under the grandson of Chlodvig, during 
which the Franconian kingdom becomes separated into two 
great masses divided by the Scheldt. 

During the period of the civil wars, the Frankish empire con- 
sisted of four Germanic provinces and four Frankish 
— viz., Germanic France, Germany, Bavaria, and Thuringia, 
Austrasia, Neustria, Burgundia, and Aquitania.- The first 
four were allies rather than subjects, being governed by their 
own hereditary dukes, and almost independent. Their savage 
manners, their religion, and their laws, rendered them total 
strangers to the rest of the empire, so that their very exist- 
ence was almost forgotten ; while Burgundia and Aquitania, 
kingdoms subdued by the Franks, were considered as foreign, 
and hence scarcely any establishments had been formed within 
them. Properly speaking, France therefore only extended, 
from the Rhine to the Loire, excluding Brittany, which was 
tributary, not subject. That part of France which was 
inhabited by the conquerors had been divided into Austrasia 
and Neustria, or the eastern and western country. The two 
provinces were separated by a line, which extended north 
and south from the mouth of the Scheldt to Bar-sur-Aube. 
Austrasia was on the right, eastward of this line; Neustria 
on the left, or to the westward. Three of the capitals — 
Paris, Soissons, and Orleans — were in Neustria; the fourth 
(Rheims), in Austrasia. The four Germanic provinces were 
a dependency of Austrasia, and devolved to Siegbert, who 
changed the capital from Eheims to Metz ; Burgundia fell 
to Gontran, who removed the capital from Orleans to Chalons- 
sur-Saone ; Neustria fell to Chilperic, whose court was at 
Soissons; and Aquitania to Charibert, whose capital was 
Paris. .This latter kingdom, on the death of Charibert, was 
divided among his three brothers (567). This latter divi- 
sion, by confusing the boundaries of the provinces, led to 
frequent broils, which were still further fomented by the 
mutual jealousy and hatred of v the queens of Austrasia and 
49 d 



A.D. 613.] BRUNEHILDE MAJORES DOMUS. [§ 13. 

Soissons, and led to those civil wars which uninterruptedly 
prevailed until the reunion of the kingdom, for the second 
time, under Clotaire n. of Soissons, great-grandson of Chlod- 
vig (613). 

On the death of Childebert If. (596), who, with his wife Faileuba, 
perished by poison (probably administered by his mother, Brunehilde 
or Brunehault), the latter assumed the authority, and induced her 
younger grandson, Dietrich (Thierry), to undertake an unjust war 
against his brother Dietbert (Theudebert), who had excited the jealousy 
of Brunehilde. The armies met at Kiersy-sur-Oise, but separated 
after a temporary peace was concluded. Subsequently the war was 
renewed, and Theudebert was defeated, first at the great battle of 
Tolbiac, and then at Cologne. Theudebert, being taken prisoner, was 
put to death by Brunehilde, and his family massacred (618). Shortly 
after, Thierry himself fell a victim to the wicked passions of his grand- 
mother, who intended to govern the kingdom herself as regent for 
her great-grandsons, the eldest of which was only eleven years of 
age. The Franks, however, were disgusted with the government of 
Brunehilde, and offered the government to the King of Neustria, 
Clotaire II., whom the queen was determined to resist. Through 
the treachery of Warnachaire, the mayor of the palace, whose life she 
had sought, she, with her grandsons, fell into the hands of Clotaire, 
who reproached her with the numerous murders she had committed, 
including the massacre of no less than ten kings ; and, after sub- 
jecting her to different torments, ordered her to be bound hand and 
foot to the tail of a wild horse, and so kicked to death. 

After the death of Brunehilde (613), Clotaire n. united the 
whole of the Frankish nation under his sceptre. The German 
Austrasians, however, were opposed to the union, and, after a 
struggle of upwards of a century, succeeded in having it again 
erected into an independent sovereignty; Siegbert in., the son 
of Dagobert, being placed upon the throne, when his father 
restored to the Austrasian Crown all that it had possessed in 
Aquitania and Provence, with the exception of the duchy of 
Deutelin. 

It was at this period that the Frankish empire was governed 
by Majores domus, the only ministers existing in the then rude 
state of society ; they were the stewards of the royal household, 
and accompanied the monarch and his court from castle to 
castle, presiding also as magistrates, or royal judges, at the trial 
of delinquents. They were sometimes appointed by the king, 
and at others by the people. During the minority of the 
kings they ruled as regents, and frequently exercised the royal 
functions after the prince had attained to his majority. In 
process of time, owing to the imbecility of the princes and the 
50 



§ 13.] WARS BETWEEN AUSTRASIA AND NEUSTRIA. [719 A.D. 

civil wars between the reigning sovereigns, they became more 
formidable than the monarch himself. As his chief vassal 
(major domus regise) he led the serfs (leades?) to battle, and 
dispensed the royal patronage in Austrasia and Burgundy, etc., 
and, after the victory of Testry, sat as grand judge {Mord- 
dome) in the place of the king. The family of Pepin succeeded 
in rendering the office hereditary in their race, and long ruled 
with all the honours of royalty without assuming the name. 
For the possession of this dignity there was a continual struggle 
between the Franconian nobility, and at last between the 
mayors of the different kingdoms. Those of Austrasia and 
Neustria maintained a sanguinary conflict for the government 
of the entire monarchy, which was terminated by the defeat 
of the Major domus of Austrasia by Pepin of Heristal, near 
Liege castle, at the battle of Testry, on the Somme, near St. 
Quentin and Peronne (687), when Pepin became sole Major 
domus of the whole Franconian empire. This victory once 
more united the German and Koman territories ; the former of 
which, however, having Pepin for its duke, maintained the 
superiority. The Merovingian monarch, Thierry in., ruled 
in the usual way, as a mere phantom. He presided over the 
assembly, or Comitia of the people, when summoned by Pepin, 
and, as soon as he had received the presents of the great 
Frankish lords, and issued decrees for the marching of the 
army on a certain day, was dismissed by the mayor to his 
country house at Maumague, on the banks of the Oise, while 
Pepin retired to his palace at Cologne. 

The almost independent government founded by Pepin in 
Austrasia, on his death in 714, was not given to his son 
Charles, yet confined in prison under the care of his mother, 
but left to Theodoald, his grandson, scarcely six years of age, 
who was also left mayor of the palace to Dagobert in., himself 
a minor; Plectruda, the wife of Pepin, being guardian and 
governor of both. This led to a series of wars between the 
Austrasians and the Neustrians. The latter, feeling insulted 
in having an infant mayor placed over them, elected another 
(Eaginfred) ; whilst the Austrasians took Charles out of prison 
by force, and placed him at the head of the Austrasian army. 
The battle of Vincy, 717, one of the most sanguinary on 
record, and another near Orleans, in both of which Charles 
was victorious, decided the dispute. Eaginfred submitted to 
the conqueror, and Charles thus obtained undisputed sway 
51 d2 



A.D. 718-41.] CHARLES MARTEL THE SARACENS, ETC. [§ 13. 

over the whole Frankish empire, 719. The Frisians and the 
Saxons, who had at the same time harassed his northern 
dominions, were checked in their progress, but by no means 
subdued; for the Thuringians and the Hessians were com- 
pelled to pay tribute to the Saxons, as the condition of peace. 
From 718 to the year 739, Charles, whose victories had pro- 
cured for him the surname of Martel, or the Hammerer, was 
engaged against the Germans, the Bavarians, the Frisians, and 
the Saxons. The first three were compelled to acknowledge 
the supremacy of the Franks ; whilst the Saxons, whose terri- 
tories he had at six different times penetrated, remained 
unsubdued. Charles was compelled to leave the Saxons in 
some degree to themselves, in order to resist more formidable 
enemies in the Saracens, who, under their leader Abderrah- 
man, composed of an army of 400,000 men, had forced their 
way through the Basque provinces into Aquitania, which 
they overran, destroying the fortresses, and slaying all the 
inhabitants of the cities. Bordeaux fell, and Poictiers and 
Tours were threatened with destruction. At this crisis the 
Duke of Aquitania applied for assistance to Charles, who, not- 
withstanding their differences, readily agreed to resist the 
progress of the common enemy. The Arabs had scarcely 
passed the great city of Poictiers when they came within sight 
of Charles and his Austrasian Franks. After manoeuvring 
in presence of each other for seven days, they at length joined 
the battle which was fought in the plains of Vougle, near the 
city of Poictiers. Victory declared in favour of Charles; 
75,000 (?) Saracens were left dead on the field; the ardour 
of the Arabians for conquests in France was stayed, and 
confidence restored to the Franks and Aquitanians, while the 
power of the Carlovingian house became firmly established. 
In 734, the complete subjugation of the Frisians followed, and 
Christianity was introduced amongst them. In 741, Charles 
Martel died, and, as regent, divided the monarchy between 
his sons, Carloman and Pepin. The former had Austrasia, 
with Suabia and Thuingia; the latter, Neustria, Burgundia, 
and Provence; a few provinces, or lordships, detached from 
both, were the heritage of Grifon, a bastard son. 

This arrangement again altered the boundaries of the empire. 

Grifon, on account of his turbulent disposition, was imprisoned 

at Neufchatel, and the provinces left him by Charles seized by 

Carloman and Pepin; the latter of whom, seeing that the 

52 



§ 14.] RELIGION OF THE GERMAN NATIONS. [325 A.D. 

Neustrians and Burgundians were preparing to shake off the 
yoke, and elect a Frankish monarch, took one of the last of 
the Merovingians (Chilperic in.) out of a convent, and placed 
him over them. He was not, however, acknowledged in 
Austrasia. From 743 to 745, Carloman and Pepin were 
engaged in a sanguinary warfare against the Germans, who en- 
deavoured to shake off the yoke of the Franks. The Bavarians, 
the Alemanni, the Saxons, and the Sclavonians were all beaten. 
In 746, Carloman ordered a meeting of the plaids of the king- 
dom at the Castle of Gunstadt; soon after which (785) he 
retired to a monastery, and Pepin became sole ruler. Pepin, 
who had long sought the regal dignity, threw off the mask, 
and, having obtained the sanction and support of Pope Zachary, 
was, with his queen, Bertruda, raised to the kingdom on the 
1st of March, in the national assembly held at Soissons, and 
was afterwards anointed by Boniface, 752. Chilperic, the 
dethroned monarch, was shut up in the convent of Sithieu, 
where he died, 755. 

§ 14. 

KELIGION AND CONSTITUTION OF THE GEKMAN 
NATIONS. 

I. Religion. 

a) The Introduction of Christianity amongst 
the Germans was one of the most important events which 
followed the migrations which took place during the third and 
three following centuries. Already, in 325, we find a Gothic 
bishop (Theophilus) present at the council of Nice, and his 
successor, Ulphilas, translated the Bible into the Gothic tongue. 
This prelate embraced the Arian doctrine, which was also 
professed by the West and East Goths, the Burgundians, the 
Vandals, and the Langobards (Lombards), formerly the wor- 
shippers of Odin. Among the East Goths and Vandals it dis- 
appeared after the dissolution of their empires, and Catholicism 
took its place. After the victory obtained by Clovis, at Tolbiac, 
over the Alemanni, the Franks embraced the Catholic faith ; but 
their kings made no attempts to convert their German subjects, 
to whom the gospel was first preached by Columban, an Irish 
missionary ; whose disciples, Gallus, St. KiHan, and St. Emmeran, 
were despatched to the Alemanni, the Thuringians, and the 
Bavarians. It was not, however, until the commencement of 
the eighth century that the conversion of the Germans took 
place to any extent, when the " Apostle of the Germans," S t, 
53 



A.D. 739.] ST. WINIFRIED THE MONASTIC LIFE. [§ 14. 

Winifried, afterwards called Bonifacius, preached to 
the tribes located between the Ehine and the Elbe, as the Frisii 
and the Catti, or Hessians, whom he persuaded to destroy the 
holy oak at Geismar in Hesse. He built churches, schools, and 
monasteries ; and in 739, less than twenty years from the com- 
mencement of his mission, 120,000 had been reclaimed from 
idolatry. He founded the cathedrals of Erfurt, Bonaberg, 
Eichstadt, and Wurtzberg, and in the whole eight new bishop- 
rics, which he subjected at first to the control of the German 
National Council (Concilium Germanicum), being fully sensible 
of the advantages of the protection of the Frankish monarch. 
He filled the office of bishop and archbishop at first without 
any settled diocese or jurisdiction; but in 745 he was elected 
to the archbishopric of Mayence and Papal Legate. In 755, 
this aged Apostle of the Germans caused his friend St. Lullus 
to be recognised as Archbishop of Mentz, and undertook his 
fourth mission to the Friezes, among whom, with twenty-two 
of his companions, he suffered martyrdom. — The conversion 
of the Anglo-Saxons of Britain was accelerated through the 
instrumentality of Bertha, the queen of Ethelbert, sister of 
Charibert, king of Paris, who prepared the mind of the Kentish 
sovereign for the reception of Christianity. On the arrival of 
St. Austin, despatched to Britain by Gregory the Great, the 
worship of Thor and Woden was abandoned, and as many as 
16,000 converts were baptized in a single day. 

b) The. monastic life appears to have originated 
with those men, who, persecuted by the enemies of Christianity, 
were compelled to live in seclusion and privacy. Several of 
these (Monaclii) dispersed themselves in the Egyptian desert, 
and at length assembled round the hut or cottage of St. Anto- 
nius (305), near to which they built huts for themselves. 
Under Pachomius, the disciple of Antonius, they resided 
in one common building (ccenobium), governed by a prefect 
(Abbas, Abbot). From Egypt they extended themselves over 
the countries of the West, where, under St. Benedict, a 
new form was given to monastic establishments. Manual 
labour and agriculture were associated with the study of the 
sciences and the education of youth ; and the " order" or " rule" 
first made for the regulation of the monks of Monte Casino, 
near Naples, subsequently introduced into nearly all the 
monastic establishments of Western Europe ; agreeably to this 
rule, the noviciate promised to remain in the convent for life, 
54 



§ 14.] CONSTITUTION. 

and took the triple vow of poverty, chastity, and unconditional 
obedience. 

II. Constitution. 

a) Origin and development of the German States. — On the 
conquest of the Eoman provinces, the German tribes conducted 
themselves very differently towards the vanquished. Several, 
as the Vandals and the Langobardi, who were filled with the 
most bitter hatred against the Eomans, seized the whole of 
the landed property, and abolished the Roman laws and insti- 
tutions. Others, as the Ostro and Visigoths and the Burgun- 
dians, acted with greater liberality, and allowed their enemies 
to retain in some instances one-third, and in others two-thirds, 
of their possessions. The Franks pursued a middle course 
between the two. It happened, however, that the victors were 
not in all cases the most benefited ; oftentimes the vanquished 
were not reduced to slavery, but allowed to retain their free- 
dom; and, amongst the Franks, they were even elevated to 
posts of honour, and held high offices in Church and State. 
The inferiority of the vanquished chiefly consisted in three 
things — the forced resignation of a portion of their estates, the 
greater power of the monarch over them than over his armed 
vassals and followers, and the lower penalty set upon the taking 
of their lives ; for the fife of a civilized Eoman was by the bar- 
barian only estimated at one-half the value of his own. These 
differences served also to prevent the amalgamation or ming- 
ling of the G-erman and Eoman races, which proceeded but 
slowly. In the Pyrenean peninsula it was retarded through 
the high estimation in which the Eoman character was held by 
the Visigoths ; and in the Hesperian (Italy), the contempt with 
which the barbarian Germans looked upon the Eomans and 
their institutions, produced the same result. 

With respect to the distinctions, or the various gradations of society, 
which existed amongst the Germans, there were, 1. Noblemen, 
anciently those who were born of parents long possessed of freedom, 
and were invested with official dignity. The gradations of rank seem 
never to have been many ; among the Bavarians, for instance, there 
existed only six orders of nobility, to which, according to G-erman law, 
a high penalty attached in cases of violence or loss of life. There was a 
nobility by service, where the vassal held his land immediately 
from the sovereign, to whom he was bound by a special oath of fealty. 
Deeds of heroism and bravery, or any meritorious action performed 
under the eye of the sovereign, sometimes led to distinction ; but more 
frequently the possession of a large amount of landed property, wrested 
*55 



CONSTITUTION OF THE GERMANS AND FRANKS. [§ 14. 

out of the hands of the enemy. These in time became hereditary, and 
thus formed a new order of nobility. There were also, 2. The Free 
Germans (warriors), the French Milites. 3. The Half Free Germans, 
or half leudes, men who did not carry arms, but were engaged in agri- 
culture. 4. Free Romans. 5. Tributary Romans (captives taken in 
war). Quite independent of these distinctions in the state, was that 
order of nobility which consisted of the attendants upon the sove- 
reign (comitatus), as the great civil and military officers, who formed, 
as it were, his bodyguard, and were themselves accompanied by a nume- 
rous train of leudes, and belonged to the royal household. 

Change of Constitution, more particularly in the kingdom of the 
Franks. The foundation of the Franconian empire was laid in conquest. 
From Franconia to Aquitania, the G-erman tribes and Romans owned 
the supremacy of the Frankish sovereigns. Before their entrance into 
Gaul, they had their hereditary princes, one sovereign family, from 
which alone their future kings were chosen. The revenues for their 
support were derived from the land. Their own domains were extensive. 
Annual presents from the dignitaries of the church, and certain taxes 
which were imposed upon all, as well as judicial fines, all passed into 
the royal treasury. Oftentimes the revenues of the king were increased 
by the venal sale of dignities, and the appropriation of the revenues of 
the monasteries, and even of the cathedrals, to the royal purse. To the 
king belonged the partitioning of the land conquered by his followers 
from its original possessors, and also the nomination of the dukes and 
counts, and other high officers of state. This served considerably to 
consolidate and to strengthen the royal power, which, while the annual 
plaids, consisting of the armed freemen, continued to assemble, received 
a check. At length, when the territory became inore extended, and the 
vassals dispersed to a greater distance from the centre of the empire, 
these plaids were but thinly attended. The government, therefore, 
devolved upon the king, his official attendants, and the counts and 
dukes, to whom also an almost uncontrolled authority in their respective 
territories was delegated. To the king alone, however, belonged the 
power of declaring war and the settlement of peace, and to him only 
were the presents of the vanquished presented, or the contributions 
of allied princes paid. It was likewise the province of the king to 
amend, and to prepare new laws for the consideration of the assemblies, 
which, when sanctioned, were to be carried out by the territorial dukes 
and counts. In later times, on the decline of the royal power, the 
counts, but more particularly the dukes, whose dignities were originally 
official, and lasted only during the will of the sovereign, became here- 
ditary. They now no longer attended the plaids and assembhes as the 
official servants of the king, but as the representatives of districts and 
provinces ; feudal princes, not in behalf of the sovereign, but to serve 
their own personal interests. In the remoter districts of the kingdom, 
the counts or dukes governed almost as independent princes, and were 
acknowledged as such by the local nobility and inhabitants. In process 
of time they invested themselves with certain privileges and immunities 
at the expense of the crown, and thus formed a numerous temporal and 
ecclesiastical aristocracy, winch not only gradually oppressed the lower 
freemen, but also became opposed to the sovereign himself, 
56 



§ 14.] FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

b) The Feudal System. — The territory won from the original 
inhabitants by the king and his followers (Gasindi) was divided 
by him among those who assisted in the acquisition; each 
obtained an allotment (allodium), which, on the death of the 
tenant, could be held on the usual condition of military service 
by some other member of the family. Thence it was in a 
manner hereditary; nevertheless, although the king himself 
had no power to deprive any tenant of his domain, it might 
be done at the annual meeting of the plaid, on the vote of the 
assembly. Subsequently, as the power of the free men or 
warriors increased, the lands became hereditary, and 
were equally divided at death among the offspring of the pos- 
sessor. In the division of the land, the king himself retained 
a larger portion than the most favoured of his vassals was 
allowed to possess. For, as the sovereign and his court lived 
upon the proceeds of the royal domains, travelling from palace 
to palace to consume successively the provisions which had 
accumulated at each of them, such ample domains were neces- 
sary for the support of the royal dignity, and to enable the 
king to confer upon his favourites and his valiant followers 
(vassen or vassals) small domains, for which they were 
required to render military service. These allotments were 
termed feods or benefices (feudum or beneficium), and at first 
were granted only for life ; they afterwards became hereditary, 
but whether by grant from the monarch, or by usurpation, does 
not appear. The military service of the beneficed vassals was 
termed lehe-man, leudes; that of the freemen, bound by duty 
for its defence, heer-men, arimanni. In course of time, the 
allodial proprietors, who were bound only for the national 
defence, became, by their acceptance of the grants of lands 
from the king or the nobles, feods, and were bound to do 
military service in private as well as in public war. Hence a 
sort of personal militia was created, devoted to the maintenance 
of private interests, and governed by a contract, rather than 
by the law of the kingdom. The first vassal of the king was 
the Major domus (region), who, as the first representative 
or lieutenant of the sovereign, led the serfs (coinitatis) in time 
of war, distributed the royal patronage, and sometimes (as in 
Austrasia) sat on the seat of justice as the representative of 
the king. 

In the time of Charlemagne many of the petty allodial proprietors 
became vassals, finding it to be more safe to place themselves under 
57 d3 



A.D. 450.] LEGISLATION. [§ 14. 

some great baron, who was bound to protect bis vassals, than to be 
plundered by their superiors. The small allodial proprietor, therefore, 
made over his estate to some great lord, from whom he received it back 
as a fief (feuclum oMatum). In subsequent times, these smaller pro- 
prietors almost wholly disappear; they became sub-vassals to some duke, 
count, or baron, whose armed forces were consequently augmented, and 
in many instances more than a match for those of the sovereign, — a 
policy which constituted the chief strength of the feudal system, which 
for so long a period existed in the German empire, and amongst the 
Franks, the Anglo-Saxons, and the Lombards. 

c) Legislation. — Until the middle of the fifth century, the 
Germans were governed only by an unwritten law. In the 
three centuries which followed, written laws (leges) were from 
time to time published, first, for the tribes which had passed 
the Bhine, or the united people composing the Frankish con- 
federacy, as the Salii, Ripuarii, Alemanni, Bavarians, Burgun- 
dians, &c, and subsequently for the Westgoths, Lombards, and 
Anglo-Saxons. These codes were all, with one exception, 
that of the Anglo-Saxon, composed in the Latin language, and 
were probably the acts of the assembly in councils, or the 
results of treaties entered into between the king and his sub- 
jects. One object of these laws, which at first were but an 
embodiment of former customs, was to expunge those heathen 
elements which were incorporated with them, and so introduce 
the purer principles of Christianity. Hence, Lex Salica, which 
was published before the conversion of the Franks to Chris- 
tianity, in the reign of Clovis, underwent several successive 
changes, and received from time to time large additions to 
meet the circumstances under which they were placed. 

These laws {leges), especially the Lex Salica of the Franks, are prin- 
cipally characterised by their penalties, chiefly against theft. Excepting 
under certain circumstances, the freeman could not be punished with 
death or corporal chastisement ; only the unfree, the serf. To the free- 
man every injury was redeemable by a fine (compositio) , and he who 
could not pay the composition became the slave of the injured party. 
Even the crime of murder could be expiated by the payment of the fixed 
number of solidis {shillings), which varied according to the rank of the 
victim, and the circumstances of the case. With respect to judicial 
proofs and purgations, the kinds of proof were in general four : — 1. 
That of written documents. 2. The oaths of witnesses. 3. The oath 
of the plaintiff, who was privileged to bring his nearest relatives or 
friends (conjuratores or consacramentales) to swear for him — viz., to 
make oath that, from their knowledge of him, he had sworn according 
to the best of his belief. The number of coujuratores varied from two 
to eight hundred. The general number was twelve. Compurga- 
tion. — The most ancient method was by cold water, in which the 
58 



§ 15.] EASTERN ROMAN OR BYZANTINE EMPIRE. [395-565 A.D. 

guilty sank and the innocent swam. Boiling water : A cauldron of 
which the accused thrust his arm into, when it was immediately ban- 
daged, and if, after a certain short time, on its removal the arm appeared 
in a healthy condition, the accused was held to be innocent. The 
ordeal by red-hot iron consisted either in holding the hot iron rod with 
the naked hand, or walking, with naked feet, over a number of burning 
ploughshares. There was also the purgation by the cross, which took 
place before the cross in the church, and consisted in holding the hands 
crossed over the head for a certain time. If the arms dropped before 
the expiration of that period, the accused was pronounced guilty, and 
punished accordingly. 

B. The East. 

§ 15. 

THE EASTERN EOMAN OE BYZANTINE EMPIEE UNDEE 

THE MACEDONIAN DYNASTY, 395—867. 

I. The Eise of the Empire from 395 to the 
death of Justinian, 565. 

On the division of the Roman empire by Theodosius, between 
his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius, the former received the 
eastern half, termed the Eastern Roman or Byzantine empire, 
which extended west and east from the shores of the Adriatic 
to the banks of the Tigris. North and south it embraced the 
countries south of the Danube and the Euxine, and those on 
the African coasts of the Mediterranean. Arcadius, a weak, 
effeminate prince, was governed by his minister, Rufinus, a 
Gaul, who is said to have invited the Huns to make incursions 
into the territories of his sovereign. He was put to death by 
Gainus, a Goth, when the eunuch Eutropius for a time became 
the reigning favourite. He was, however, a great intriguer, 
and was charged with being the author of the Phrygian revolt, 
brought to trial, banished to the Isle of Cyprus, and then behead- 
ed. Gainus, who had been instrumental in the banishment of 
Eutropius, soon after lost his life in a battle against the Huns. 
In his later years, Arcadius was assisted in the government by 
the Empress Eudoxia. He died (408), and was succeeded by 
his son, Theodosius n., who, like Arcadius, was only nomi- 
nally emperor, the reins of government being in the hands of 
Anthemius ; who, considering Pulcheria, the sister of Theodo- 
sius, better qualified for the administration than himself, re- 
signed his office into her hands. She ruled ably and successfully". 
In the latter days of Theodosius, the eunuch Chrysaph governed, 
Constantinople was threatened by the Huns, and was only 
59 



A.D. 412.] THEODOSIUS-MARCIAN-LEO-ZENO-ANASTASIUS. [§ 15. 

saved by acceding to the payment of an increased annual 
tribute, at last amounting to 2,100 lbs. of gold. In 412, 
Armenia was partly lost to the Persians. In 450, Theodosius 
was thrown from his horse and killed. He has the honour of 
being the first monarch who published a digest of the laws 
(leges) of the empire, for the benefit of his subjects. Pul- 
cheria, who had ruled for some time during the reign of 
Theodosius, now succeeded to the vacant throne, and gave her 
hand to the senator Marcian, who had distinguished himself in 
the Persian and other wars. He refused to pay the annual 
tribute to the Huns ; and on the breaking up of their empire, 
after the death of Attila (453), he cultivated peaceful relations 
with the Eastern Goths, south of the Danube, formerly tribu- 
tary to the Huns. On the death of Marcian, Leo i. was raised 
to the throne by Aspar, the general of the eastern army, whom 
he afterwards ungratefully put to death, and thus fixed a stain 
upon his fame. Leo was the first sovereign crowned by a 
bishop (the patriarch of Constantinople). During his reign 
he expended a vast sum in an expedition against Genseric, 
king of the Vandals, which ended in the utter destruction of 
the army engaged in it. He died 474, leaving the throne to 
his infant grandson, whose father, Zeno (an Isaurian), governed 
in his stead, and probably murdered the young prince that he 
might possess the throne. The widow empress of Leo drove 
the usurper from the seat of power, and conferred the throne 
upon her brother Brasilicus, who, however, subsequently 
offended his sister, and through a conspiracy was betrayed 
into the hands of Zeno, who again usurped the throne, 477, 
which he kept possession of for fourteen years. His reign was 
disgraceful, and remarkable for the concessions he made to the 
Ostrogothic King, to whom he yielded a part of Lower Dacia and 
Ma3sia, and, probably as the price of his forbearance from attack- 
ing Constantinople, the government of Italy was surrendered. 
On the death of Zeno, his virtuous widow, Ariadne, bestowed 
her hand and the empire upon Anastasius, who engaged vio- 
lently in the disputes which then agitated the church ; and, by 
abolishing some of the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon, 
brought about the beginning of the first religious war. During 
his long reign of twenty-seven years, the Bulgarians on the shores 
of the Euxine frequently attacked the provinces on the Danube ; 
to preserve the capital from any assaults, he built the famous 
long wall which extended from the Euxine to the Marmora 
60 



§ 15.] JUSTIN — JUSTINIAN. [520-65 A.D. 

sea. He also recognised the kingdom of the Franks. On his 
death (518), he was succeeded by Justin, a Thracian peasant, 
who obtained the throne by artifice, distributing among the 
troops the gold entrusted to him by Amantius with a view to 
his own elevation. He was chiefly occupied in the propaga- 
tion of Catholicism, which he effected by persecution. In his 
reign, the first monastic order of the Benedictines was esta- 
blished, and spread itself over the countries of the West ; Monte 
Casino, in the Neapolitan territory , being founded as early as 520. 
After a reign of nine years Justin died, and was succeeded 
by his nephew Justinian, whose talent lay in his discrimination, 
by the exercise of which he selected the most fit and proper 
persons to command his armies, and to regulate the internal 
affairs of the empire. Justinian (527-565) began his 
splendid reign by the improvements which he effected 
in the Roman law by the — a) Codex Justinianus, 
(12 vols.), or a regular and copious body of jurisprudence, 
embracing, in a digested and simple form, the judicial wisdom 
which had accumulated during the former reigns. This im- 
portant work was executed by ten of the most distinguished 
lawyers of the age, under the superintendence of the great 
Tribonian. Soon alter its production, this code was felt to 
be insufficient; it therefore underwent a revision, and in the 
course of six years it appeared in a new form, b) The 
Institutiones, a compendium of Roman law, for the use 
of the schools, c) The Pandect se, or Digesta, a collection 
of the opinions or most important explanations and decisions 
contained in the writings of forty of the most eminent jurists, 
d) The N o v e 1 1 a3, being an addition or supplement to the 
former ; it embraced the laws made during the latter period of 
Justinian's reign, and those of the later emperors. The whole 
work received the title of " C o r p u s Juris Civiris," and 
recognised the will of the emperor as absolute. 

The internal tranquillity of the empire was disturbed by the 
insurrections or tumults which took place between the Blues 
and the Greens in the Hippodrome at Constantinople, which 
were neither of an ecclesiastical or political character. Chariot 
racing, a favourite amusement among the Romans, had been 
introduced into Constantinople, and both the empress and the 
wife of Belisarius were the daughters of charioteers, who wore 
dresses either of a blue or green uniform. In process of time, 
the whole population was divided into two opposite parties, 
61 



A.D. 532-50.] THE VANDALS — OSTROGOTHS — BELISAPJUS. [§ 15. 

distinguished by these colours. Justinian embraced the cause 
of the Blues, and justice was withheld from the Greens. These 
riots at length assumed the character of open rebellion. In 
532, one of the most terrible of these revolts, called N i k a, or 
victory (from the cry adopted), took place, when all the public 
buildings were destroyed or seriously damaged. During the 
five days the capital was in the hands of the mob, and upwards 
of 30,000 of the Green party were massacred. Justinian was 
on the eve of taking flight, but was prevented by the firmness 
of the Empress Eudoxia. The emperor subsequently restored 
the stately buildings, which had been damaged or destroyed, 
to more than their original magnificence, especially the church 
of St. Sophia. 

Justinian now turned his attention to the strengthening of 
his frontier provinces. To render the north secure against 
the attacks of the Bulgares, he erected between the Save and 
the mouth of the Danube a line of fortifications, embracing 
more than eighty fortresses, and after a great sacrifice of human 
life, in consequence of the opposition of the Persians to the 
Lazic alliance with the Romans, the war was put an end to by 
a treaty purchased with gold (506). Entrenchments were also 
thrown up, and treaties entered into with the various nations 
of Armenia, etc. It was during the Persian war against the 
Eomans, that the eunuch Narses, afterwards a celebrated 
general, passed over to the Romans, and that Belisarius won 
his first laurels. Justinian now endeavoured to make Italy 
and Africa once more Roman provinces, and thus to effect 
the restoration of the Roman empire. The 
empire of the Vandals in Africa was destroyed by Belisarius 
(see § 9) ; and thus, by one of the most rapid conquests ever 
achieved by disproportionate numbers, was Africa placed again 
in the hands of the Romans. The Ostrogoths, who possessed 
the whole of Italy, were next attacked (see § 8), and after a 
war carried on by Belisarius for eighteen years, and by the 
eunuch Narses (who succeeded to the command) for two years, 
Italy was for a time added to the empire. In 550, the sea 
coast of Southern Spain was surrendered to Justinian, as the 
price of his assistance to Athanagild (see § 11). 

The narrow-minded Justinian, jealous of the success of his 

general Belisarius, withdrew him from Africa to repel the 

aggressions of Chosroes (or Nurshivan), the Persian monarch, 

who, pressed upon by the Ostrogoths, broke the treaty which 

62 



§ 15.] COLCHLiN WAR WARS WITH PERSIA, ETC. [540-87 A.D. 

he had concluded with Justinian (540), and invaded Syria and 
Antioch. the latter of which was reduced to ashes. Armenia 
was devastated, and Palestine was threatened, when the ap- 
pearance of Belisarius in the east compelled the Persians to 
withdraw. The Colchian war, however, was disputed with 
the greatest obstinacy for sixteen years by the two emperors, 
and it was not without much negotiation that a treaty of peace 
was concluded (556). The territories of Colchis, on the south- 
eastern shore of the Euxine, were now free from the payment 
of the annual tribute to Persia, and formed the boundary of 
the Roman empire in that direction. After a reign of thirty- 
eight years, Justinian expired (565), leaving to his successor an 
exhausted exchequer, which had been expended in the erec- 
tion of costly buildings, and in the purchasing of treaties of 
peace. To meet these demands, offices of state were publicly 
sold, monopolies granted, and burdensome taxes laid upon the 
people. These things, Justin n., who saw the errors of his 
uncle's administration, undertook to remedy. 

II. Decline of the Empire, from 565 to the 
accession of the Macedonian Emperors, 867. 

During the reign of Justin n., a mild and benevolent prince, 
Italy was lost to the Lombards (comp. § 8, iv). The Avars, 
pressed upon the Turks, founded an empire in the fruitful 
plains of the Danube, and finally possessed themselves of the 
Illyrian peninsula. Towards the close of the reign of Justin, 
Chosroes, the Persian monarch, ravaged Syria; and Apamea, 
was reduced to ashes. In 574, he resigned the crown to 
Tiberius, the brave captain of his guards, who successfully 
resisted the Persian arms ; but after a short reign of four years 
was cut off by a mortal disease. Maurice, a valiant officer, 
was chosen to succeed him, and during his reign, the Khan of 
the Avars carried terror to the walls of Constantinople, and 
even insulted the ambassador of the emperor. Maurice, how- 
ever, was more successful against the Persians even than 
Tiberias, and on the rebellion of Bahram (see § 17) assembled 
an army under Parses (not the conqueror of Italy) and placed 
Chosroes n. upon the throne. In 602, Maurice attempting to 
reduce the pay of his soldiers, an insurrection broke out, in 
which he and his five sons were butchered, and their heads 
exposed in the Hippodrome at Constantinople. Phocas, a 
centurion, the leader of the insurrection, assumed the purple 
for eight years, during which the most opulent cities of the 
63 



A.D. 532-50.] THE VANDALS — OSTROGOTHS — BELISAEIUS. [§ 15. 

distinguished by these colours. Justinian embraced the cause 
of the Blues, and justice was withheld from the Greens. These 
riots at length assumed the character of open rebellion. In 
532, one of the most terrible of these revolts, called N i k a, or 
victory (from the cry adopted), took place, when all the public 
buildings were destroyed or seriously damaged. During the 
five days the capital was in the hands of the mob, and upwards 
of 30,000 of the Green party were massacred. Justinian was 
on the eve of taking flight, but was prevented by the firmness 
of the Empress Eudoxia. The emperor subsequently restored 
the stately buildings, which had been damaged or destroyed, 
to more than their original magnificence, especially the church 
of St. Sophia. 

Justinian now turned his attention to the strengthening of 
his frontier provinces. To render the north secure against 
the attacks of the Bulgares, he erected between the Save and 
the mouth of the Danube a line of fortifications, embracing 
more than eighty fortresses, and after a great sacrifice of human 
life, in consequence of the opposition of the Persians to the 
Lazic alliance with the Eomans, the war was put an end to by 
a treaty purchased with gold (506). Entrenchments were also 
thrown up, and treaties entered into with the various nations 
of Armenia, etc. It was during the Persian war against the 
Eomans, that the eunuch Narses, afterwards a celebrated 
general, passed over to the Eomans, and that Belisarius won 
his first laurels. Justinian now endeavoured to make Italy 
and Africa once more Eoman provinces, and thus to effect 
the restoration of the Eoman empire. The 
empire of the Vandals in Africa was destroyed by Belisarius 
(see § 9); and thus, by one of the most rapid conquests ever 
achieved by disproportionate numbers, was Africa placed again 
in the hands of the Eomans. The Ostrogoths, who possessed 
the whole of Italy, were next attacked (see § 8), and after a 
war carried on by Belisarius for eighteen years, and by the 
eunuch Narses (who succeeded to the command) for two years, 
Italy was for a time added to the empire. In 550, the sea 
coast of Southern Spain was surrendered to Justinian, as the 
price of his assistance to Athanagild (see § 11). 

The narrow-minded Justinian, jealous of the success of his 

general Belisarius, withdrew him from Africa to xe^el the 

aggressions of Chosroes (or Nurshivan), the Persian monarch, 

who, pressed upon by the Ostrogoths, broke the treaty which 

62 



§ 15.] COLCHIAN WAR — WARS WITH PERSIA, ETC. [540-87 A.D. 

he had concluded with Justinian (540), and invaded Syria and 
Antioch, the latter of which was reduced to ashes. Armenia 
was devastated, and Palestine was threatened, when the ap- 
pearance of Belisarius in the east compelled the Persians to 
withdraw. The Colchian war, however, was disputed with 
the greatest obstinacy for sixteen years by the two emperors, 
and it was not without much negotiation that a treaty of peace 
was concluded (556). The territories of Colchis, on the south- 
eastern shore of the Euxine, were now free from the payment 
of the annual tribute to Persia, and formed the boundary of 
the Koman empire in that direction. After a reign of thirty- 
eight years, Justinian expired (565), leaving to his successor an 
exhausted exchequer, which had been expended in the erec- 
tion of costly buildings, and in the purchasing of treaties of 
peace. To meet these demands, offices of state were publicly 
sold, monopolies granted, and burdensome taxes laid upon the 
people. These things, Justin n., who saw the errors of his 
uncle's administration, undertook to remedy. 

II. Decline of the Empire, from 565 to the 
accession of the Macedonian Emperors, 867. 

During the reign of Justin n., a mild and benevolent prince, 
Italy was lost to the Lombards (comp. § 8, iv). The Avars, 
pressed upon the Turks, founded an empire in the fruitful 
plains of the Danube, and finally possessed themselves of the 
Illyrian peninsula. Towards the close of the reign of Justin, 
Chosroes, the Persian monarch, ravaged Syria; and Apamea 
was reduced to ashes. In 574, he resigned the crown to 
Tiberius, the brave captain of his guards, who successfully 
resisted the Persian arms ; but after a short reign of four years 
was cut off by a mortal disease. Maurice, a valiant officer, 
was chosen to succeed him, and during his reign, the Khan of 
the Avars carried terror to the walls of Constantinople, and 
even insulted the ambassador of the emperor. Maurice, how- 
ever, was more successful against the Persians even than 
Tiberias, and on the rebellion of Bahram (see § 17) assembled 
an army under Narses (not the conqueror of Italy) and placed 
Chosroes n. upon the throne. In 602, Maurice attempting to 
reduce the pay of his soldiers, an insurrection broke out, in 
which he and his five sons were butchered, and their heads 
exposed in the Hippodrome at Constantinople. Phocas, a 
centurion, the leader of the insurrection, assumed the purple 
for eight years, during which the most opulent cities of the 
63 



A.D. 726-87]. RELIGIOUS FEUDS THE ICONOCLASTS. [§ 15. 

— the Jacobites, who fled into Egypt, Arabia, and Persia ; — and 
the Maronites, of the sect of the Monothelites, who found shelter 
in the mountains of Lebanon. Among other practices of ancient 
heathenism, which had crept into the worship of the Christian 
churches, was that of image worship, and during this period 
took place the Iconoclastic (image-breaking) controversy, which 
was continued for upwards of a century. It originated in the 
decree of the Emperor Leo in. (the Isaurian), 726, which 
commanded the removal of all pictures and images from the 
churches, excepting that of our Saviour. This decree, although 
violently opposed by the monks and priests, who made a scan- 
dalous traffic of the protection of these household gods, and of 
the miracles they pretended to perform by their intercession, 
was notwithstanding carried into effect. The worship of images 
having been condemned as heretical by the seventh oecumenical 
(general) council, held at Constantinople (754), the persecution 
of the worshippers of images was carried on with vigour, and 
with some degree of cruelty, by Constantine Copronymus. 
His successor, Leo iv., in consequence of the seditions and 
revolts fomented by the monks, carried his persecution so far 
as to punish with death any worshipper of images, and would 
doubtless have sacrificed even the life of the empress, in whose 
bed two images were secreted, had not a pretended miracle 
been wrought, by which the life of Irene was saved, and that 
of the emperor sacrificed. As the popes had aided Irene with 
all their power, she called a second council at Nice in 787, 
when the idolatrous worship was confirmed and carried out 
by Irene with great pomp. 

It is remarkable that the churches of the West invariably rejected, 
with horror, the worship of images, which they considered as idolatrous. 
Among the Germans relics were regarded, and to worship the bones of a 
deceased saint accorded more with their barbarism and gloomy imagi- 
nations. Both were productive of immense wealth to the church, which 
every year received vast sums from Gaul and Germany in exchange for 
the relics which had been taken out of the catacombs of Italy. 

Irene had put aside her husband to reign uncontrolled as 
regent for her son, but on his attaining his majority he excited 
her jealousy, and was compelled to banish her to Athens, 
her birthplace. Subsequently she was recalled, when she 
excited the people, through the priests and bigots, to sedition. 
The wretched Constantine, who had interdicted the worship of 
images, was seized, and had his eyes torn out with such cruelty 
63 



§ 15.] SCHISM IN THE CHURCH THE PAULICIANS. [802-97 A.D. 

that lie soon afterwards expired. Irene, who was the first 
woman that had ever sat on the throne of the empire in her own 
right, now reigned as sole monarch. In 802, her grand treasurer 
(an Iconoclast) headed a conspiracy, and usurped the throne. 
Irene was banished to Lesbos, where she supported herself by 
spinning. At her death she was canonized as a saint. The 
emperors who followed were Iconoclasts, and as their reigns 
are chronicled only by the partizans of image worship, they 
are described as cruel and tyrannical. On the accession of 
Michael m., Theodora, like Irene, reigned during the minority 
of the prince, and she effected the restoration of the worship 
which had for so long a time been prohibited. Michael (sur- 
named the Sot) was a weak, but cruel, prince. Nevertheless, 
having associated with him in the government, Basil, the 
Macedonian, the affairs of the empire were managed with 
vigour. The cruelties of the emperor and his uncle, Csesar 
Bardas, at length raised the indignation of Basil, who caused 
them to be put to death ; an act which throws a stain over his 
otherwise noble character. The reign of Michael was the era 
of a schism which for ever divided the Greek and Latin churches. 
Irritated by the remonstrances of the patriarch Ignatius, Michael 
degraded him, and placed the learned Photius, captain of the 
guard, on the chair of Constantinople, and obtained the sanc- 
tion of a council for the act. The intruder was excommu- 
nicated by the pope, and afterwards exiled. Ignatius was 
restored, but on his death (897) Photius again filled the patri- 
archial chair. On the conversion of the Bulgares to Chris- 
tianity, a division took place between the patriarch and the 
pope respecting the supremacy of the Bulgarian church, which 
was eventually followed by a separation of the Greek and 
Roman churches (1054). The persecution of the Paulicians, 
a sect which sprang up about 660, took place during the reign 
of Michael, in which upwards of 100,000 persons were 
slaughtered, and their property confiscated. Carbeas, whose 
father had perished, formed a band of Paulicians, and solicited 
the assistance of the Arabians, who penetrated into the heart 
of Asia, and desolated the fairest provinces of Greece. In the 
issue, the Paulicians were compelled to retreat, and take refuge 
in the mountains. 

The comtitution which the Eoman empire had received from Con- 
stantine the Great remained unimpaired, and the power of the emperors 
continued absolute and unrestricted. They were still crowned by the 
67 



THE ARABIANS. [§16. 

patriarch of Constantinople, from whom they received the sacred unc- 
tion, and, like Constantine, retained the Oriental manners. They assumed 
the title of Eoman Emperors, and endeavoured to conceal their weak- 
nesses by the assumption of pompous titles, invested with the purple of 
the Persian monarchs, and wearing a diadem covered with pearls and 
gems, and gorgeous dresses. A strict court etiquette was also kept up. 
The senate existed as to its external dignity, but was without influence 
as a political body, the advisers of the emperor being the consistorium 
principis, composed of the favourites of the court. In the time of 
Justinian, the Eoman consulate was discontinued, and the dates employed 
were no longer calculated by consulships, the era of their public acts, 
but according to the year of the emperor's reign, and by the Cycle of 
Indictions, which recurred every fifteen years. The remoter provinces 
were divided into Curiae, each of which was governed by a duke, appointed 
by the emperor. The oflice was not unfrequently sold to the highest 
bidder, and was generally arbitrary and absolute in its administration ; 
hence the provincials were severely oppressed by the exactions of the 
dukes or governors, who plundered them to the last extremity. 

§16. 
THE ARABIANS. 

Geography of Arabia. 

The entire surface of the Arabian peninsula (including its 
desert of 56,000 square miles of shifting sands) is calculated 
to be about four times that of Germany or France, and in its 
physical features would seem to belong rather to Africa than to 
Asia. It consists of an elevated table land, declining on the 
north towards the Syrian desert, and encircled along the sea- 
coast by a belt of flat sandy soil termed Tehama (low land). 
The mountainous region of the interior is named Nejd (high 
land). The low land is not entirely destitute of water, 
for although sometimes for years no rain falls, yet at others, 
during the months of March and April, slight showers are fre- 
quent, and the dews at all times are said to be copious. The 
high land has its regular rainy seasons, while in the lofty 
mountain ranges springs abound, the waters from which descend 
into the valleys and fertilize the low land. These temporary 
streams are termed Wddis, probably the same with the Greek 
Oasis. The most fertile portion of the Tehama, bordering 
on the Red Sea, has received from Ptolemy the name of Arabia 
Felix. 

The native traditions of the Arabs lay claim to a double 

origin, and assert that the elder tribes are descended from 

Kahtan, or Joktan, or Yokthan, the son of Heber; and the 

junior tribes, or Mostarabi (mixed Arabs), from Ishmael, the 

68 



§ 16.] OCCUPATION AND RELIGION OF THE ARABS. 

son of Abraham and Hagar. These wanderers are termed 
Beduins, or Bedouins (from bedowi, a native of the desert). 
They do not all dwell in tents pitched in the deserts ; some 
dwell in towns and cities built at remote periods as emporiums 
of commerce, as Mecca and Medina. The only authority 
acknowledged by the Arab is that of his chief (Shiekh), whom 
he looks upon as the father, rather than the ruler, of his tribe : 
to him he yields a ready submission. In later times, in the 
Arabian Caliphat, the name of Emir, or commander, was given 
to the head of every principal tribe. 

The occupations of the Arabs are those of agriculture, the 
breeding and tending of cattle, trade and commerce, while at 
the same time they are habitual plunderers. Their chief city, 
Mecca, was built at the intersection of two great commercial 
routes; and as in the East religion and commerce have always 
gone hand in hand, at every principal mart we find a temple 
erected. That of Mecca was called Kaaba, and, according to 
tradition, Ishmael collected the stones, while Abraham con- 
structed the edifice. The Kaaba, like the temple of Delphi in 
Greece, was the sanctuary of the whole nation. The sacred 
stone, in which is the footprint of the patriarch, is still pre- 
served. 

The Religion of the Arabs was anciently that of Abraham. 
Judaism flourished in Arabia more than in any other part of 
the East. It was professed by many whole tribes, and became 
the established religion of the powerful kingdom of the Hamya- 
rites. The Persian faith (fire worship) penetrated only a small 
part of North-eastern Arabia. Sabianism (tzaba, a host), 
the worshipping of the host of heaven, prevailed over nearly 
the whole of the peninsula. According to the Koran, deities 
of human and animal forms were also worshipped. The pon- 
tificate of the Kaaba, and the Zemzem (holy spring), which 
sent forth a fountain of beautiful clear water, to satisfy the 
thirst of Hagar, on Abraham's stamping the ground with his 
foot at the command of the angel, was in the hands of the 
Joshanides, out of whose possession it was wrested by the 
tribe of Khoza, who held the pontificate and the civil govern- 
ment of Mecca until 4043 a.m., when it came into the posses- 
sion of the house of Haschem, whose grandson, Abdallah, was 
the father of the Arabian impostor Mahommed. 

History of the Arabians. 

The inhabitants of Central Arabia, principally those of the 



A.D. 61.] ARABIANS MOHAMMED. [§ 16. 

province of H e d j a s, to which the ancestors of Mohammed 
chiefly belonged, trace their origin to Aderan, a descendant 
of Ishmael, or Ismael. The Arabians of Yemen (Kahtanides, 
or Yoktanides) go still further, and trace their descent from 
Joktan, of the family of Shem. Between the Isma elites 
and the Yoktanides there had always existed a national 
hatred and animosity, which led to the banishment of the 
former from Mecca, where they were the hereditary protectors 
of the sanctuaries. The Beduins have never been entirely 
subjugated by foreign conquerors ; no power has been able 
long to keep them in subjection. Their external history pre- 
sents a long list of wars carried on by one tribe against 
another ■ but their conflicts, which arise from very trivial 
causes, are neither of long duration nor sanguinary. In the 
sixth century, their political, religious, and moral condition 
had been brought into a state of ruinous decay. 

1) From the time of Mohammed to the Dy- 
nasty of the Ommaiyades, 622 — 661. 

Mohammed, or Muhammed (much praised), was born at 
Mecca (571). His parents died when he was young, and his 
grandfather, who had been governor of Mecca, undertook the 
care of the destitute child, and on his deathbed confided him 
to Aber-Thalib, his uncle, by whom he was educated. Before 
he reached the age of manhood, Mohammed became celebrated 
for his commercial skill and enterprize, and at length became 
the factor and agent of Kadijah, a rich widow, who, pleased 
with his conduct, gave him her hand in marriage. He now 
gratified his taste for contemplation, and retired from the 
world one month in every year, to meditate, in the caverns 
of Hira. In the fortieth year of his age (609) came the 
Leilat-al-Kadr (the night of the divine determination), in 
which it is very possible that he really believed, notwith- 
standing his subsequent impostures, the angel Gabriel called 
upon him to become the prophet of God. He first announced 
his commission to the members of his own family, only intend- 
ing the establishment of an order or sect. Subsequently, by 
a train of circumstances, it led to the foundation of an empire. 
On the public preaching of Mohammed in Mecca, the Koreish, 
dreading the loss they should experience if idolatry fell into 
disrepute, and the temple should be forsaken, violently per- 
secuted the prophet and his followers, who were compelled to 
seek refuge, first in Abyssinia, then in the city of Tayef, near 
70 



§ 16.] THE HEGIRA DEATH OF MOHAMMED. 

Mecca, to which latter place he soon retired, and during the 
second month (Ramadan) preached to the pilgrims, commen- 
cing, shortly after, such a career of imposture, as to shock his 
most faithful followers, and to endanger his cause. A revolu- 
tion breaking out in Mecca, the Mohammedans were compelled 
to flee. On reaching Yatref they were enthusiastically re- 
ceived by the people, who also changed the name of the city 
to Medinet-al-Xabi (the city of the prophet), 622. This event 
is called the Hegira, or " flight," and has, since the time of 
Omar, been used as an epoch by the Mohammedans. Moham- 
med, after the flight, was, with his followers, engaged in plun- 
dering expeditions, attacking the caravans as they returned 
from Syria. His wars were chiefly against the Meccans, and 
the Jewish tribes near Medina ; the latter of whom were soon 
subdued or massacred. Mohammed at length assumed the 
authority of a sovereign, and considered himself entitled to 
hold intercourse with the greatest monarchs of the East. 
He therefore addressed letters and sent ambassadors to the 
emperors of Persia and Constantinople, and to the king of 
Ethiopia, exhorting them to embrace Islamism. When Mecca 
was conquered, he entered the city as a pilgrim rather than 
a conqueror, and his first care was to destroy the idols of the 
Kaaba. Accompanied by a retinue of the faithful, Mohammed 
laid his hand on each image in succession, and said, " Truth 
has come, let falsehood disappear;" on which the idol was 
dashed to pieces. The Arabian tribes subdued, he commenced 
to spread the Islam over all countries, and to unite into one 
community, by the sword or by faith, all the nations of the 
earth. In 632 he made his last pilgrimage to Mecca, with great 
pomp and outward solemnity, frequently kissing the black 
stone, which had, ages since, fallen from heaven, and was sup- 
posed to contain the covenant between God and man. Having' 
delivered his last revelation, he offered up sacrifices of camels, 
and liberated a portion of his slaves ; after which he returned 
to Medina, where he was struck with a mortal disease, which 
closed his career of imposture, at the age of sixty-three, leav- 
ing an only daughter (Fatima), the wife of Ali, to survive 
him. 

The Religion of the Arabs, or " The Islam " (resignation 
to the will of God), was set forth by its founder, not as a new 
creed, but as the restoration of the patriarchal faith of Abra- 
ham; that faith which, as he affirmed, had been taught by 
71 



RELIGION OF MOHAMMED. [§16. 

Moses and the Saviour of mankind, but which had been mu- 
tilated and misrepresented by their disciples and successors. 
To restore to its original purity and simplicity this primitive 
faith, was the appointed work of Mohammed. The great fun- 
damentals of Islamism are — 1. Faith in one God, and that 
Mohammed is his delegated prophet. 2. Offering up of prayer 
at five stated periods during the day, with the face towards 
the holy Kebla, or temple of Mecca, accompanied by 
numerous and accurately prescribed forms and ceremonies, 
that of prayer being announced by the priests from the pulpits, 
and afterwards from the minarets of the mosques. 3. Alms. 
4. Fasting during the month Eamadan. 5. Pilgrimage 
to Mecca at least once during life. 

The religion of Mohammed consists of two parts, the I man 
(faith), and the Din (practice). The articles of faith require 
belief in one God, in angels, in the divine books which he sent 
down from heaven to his prophet (104 in number), among 
which are the Pentateuch, or law; the Evangelium, or gospel; 
the book of Psalms ; and the Koran. Faith in the ambassa- 
dors of God is also required, as well as in a state of final 
retribution, and predestination. The second part, Practice, 
relates to lustrations, or purifications, either by water or sand 
(by the latter only when the former cannot be obtained), 
and the various rites of prayer, etc., all of which are to be 
performed with the face turned towards the holy temple at 
Mecca. The Sonna, which is rejected by a portion of 
the faithful, comprehends all the religious traditions of the 
Mohammedans, and corresponds with the Mishnah of the 
Jews. 

Unrestricted polygamy was sanctioned, but the use of wine and all 
intoxicating drinks, and swine's flesh, were strictly prohibited ; and 
games of hazard (gambling), music, statues, or carved images were all 
forbidden. The day set apart for public religious worship was Friday, 
but the Moslem was not bound to abstain wholly from labour. The 
sacrifices of animals and the rite of circumcision were kept up, but no 
distinct order of priesthood was established. With respect to pro- 
selytes, whoever embraced the Mohammedan faith became a member of 
the new state, and was no longer regarded as a stranger ; Jews and 
Christians were tolerated on payment of tribute, but death awaited the 
followers of all other religions. 

The Four Caliphs of the tribe of Koreish, 
632—661. 

1. Abu Bekr (632—634), the father-in-law of the pro- 

72 



§ 16.] ABU BEKR OMAR. [632 42 A.D. 

phet, was recognised as his successor, and by his promptitude 
disconcerted the plans of those Arab tribes which had deter- 
mined to throw off the yoke imposed on them. In the end, 
under his generals, the whole of Arabia embraced Islamism ; 
but as in this war a considerable number of the prophet's 
companions perished, Abu Bekr, fearing that the revelations 
of Mohammed might be either lost or dispersed, issued an 
order for their collection into the Koran, an order which 
was reversed in the time of the Caliph Othman. To give 
employment to his numerous army, he seized the favour- 
able period for attacking the neighbouring Byzantine empire, 
and that of Persia, both weakened by successive revolutions. 
Khaled, the general of Abu, subdued the provinces of the Irak, 
and commenced a glorious career in Syria, most of which, in 
less than two years, he subdued. In the midst of these con- 
quests Abu Bekr died, having previously transferred the reins 
of government to Omar. 

2. Omar (634 — 644). — Omar may be regarded as the 
proper founder of the Arabian empire, and his government, 
the most brilliant period of the caliphat. His generals ob- 
tained signal victories over the Greeks, near the lake of 
Tiberias (made more easy by the treachery of the Byzantine 
commander), and over the Damascenes, when the capital was 
taken (635). The conquest of Syria was now soon completed, 
and Palestine fell into the hands of the Arabians. Jeru- 
salem surrendered in 637, but the patriarch refused to open 
the gates of the city until the arrival of Omar, who set out 
from Arabia to receive the precious deposit. On his arrival, 
he would not enter to settle the terms of capitulation, but had 
his tent of camel's hair cloth erected outside the walls, and sat 
upon the bare earth. The terms granted were remarkable for 
their moderation ; civil and religious liberties were secured 
to the Syrians on the payment of an annual tribute. The fall 
of the maritime power of Phoenicia followed, by which the 
Arabs became possessed of a navy. About the same time the 
Arabian war was being successfully carried on in Persia, the 
victory of Cadesia (636) and of Nahavemd (642) hastened the 
overthrow of the Persian monarchy. Egypt was invaded at 
the same time by Omar's celebrated general Amru, who being 
assisted by the Coptic Christians who were oppressed by the 
Greek emperor on account of their faith, obtained, first, the 
victory of Pelusium, and afterwards that of Alexandria (640), 
73 e 



A.D. 644 61.] OTHMAN ALL [§ 16. 

which threw open the whole of Egypt to the Arabians, who 
had lost during the wars 23,000 of the faithful. The destruc- 
tion of the library, which, it is said, furnished fuel to heat the 
4,000 baths of Alexandria for six months, by order of Omar, 
is not improbable, although mentioned for the first time by 
Abulfaraj six centuries later. Omar was assassinated by a 
slave, whose requests he had denied (644). 

3. Oth man (644 — 656). — The successor of Omar was 
eighty years of age when he was installed third caliph. Under 
his generals the conquest of Persia was completed, which ex- 
tended the Saracen sway to the Oxus. Northern Africa, as far 
as the shores of the Atlantic, was also subdued; the island of 
Cyprus was rendered tributary; Rhodes was conquered, and 
the remains of the celebrated Colossus sold. The Arabian arms 
were also succesfully employed against the Greeks. Cilicia 
and Asia Minor, as far as the Euxine, were overrun, and Con- 
stantinople was even menaced. These conquests, however, 
only served to increase the love of luxury and dissipation. The 
Arabians now began to rival the monarchs of the East, and to 
prefer the splendours of a court to the glories of the field. 
Othman lavished treasures upon his favourites, who were un- 
worthy, and in the hour of peril deserted him. The Charigites 
(Kharadjis), a new sect, who declared riches to be the source 
of crime, openly rebelled, and demanded justice from the 
caliph, whose guards deserted him. He was assassinated by 
a son of Abu Bekr (656), and Ali succeeded to the caliphat. 

4. Ali (656 — 661). — This individual had no part in the 
murder of Othman, and was much respected by the Moslems. 
He, too, was a son-in-law of the prophet (husband of Fatima). 
The Koreishites declared him caliph, which was also seconded 
by the majority of the Arabs. Ayesha, one of the numerous 
wives of the prophet, was, however, his mortal enemy, in con- 
sequence of his having cast out insinuations against her chas- 
tity. She therefore stirred up the soldiery to revolt, taking 
the lead in person; and, assisted by two Arab chiefs, Tahha 
and Zobeir, made preparations to oppose the caliph. The 
two armies met near Busra, at Koraiba, and, after a dreadful 
slaughter, the victory was declared in favour of Ali. Ayesha 
was taken prisoner, Talha perished on the field of battle, and 
Zobeir, who endeavoured to escape, was overtaken and be- 
headed. This first battle between the Moslem troops has 
received the name of the Battle of the Camel, from the fact 

74 



§16.] MOAWIYAH I. [661 A.D. 

that Ayeslia, who headed her own troops, was seated in a 
palanquin on the back of a camel. About the same time, 
Moawiyah, the deposed governor of Syria, caused himself to 
be proclaimed caliph ; and among his most powerful partisans 
was the celebrated Amru, the conqueror and governor of 
Egyj)t. Ali marched against them, and the two armies, ac- 
cording to tradition, remained for a twelvemonth face to face. 
Ninety battles were fought, and 70,000 Moslems perished. 
At length the matter was, according to the laws of the Ko- 
ran, referred to arbitrators, who decided that neither should 
possess the caliphat, but that a third party should be elected. 
Abu Musa, one of the arbitrators, declared Ali to be unseated, 
upon which Amru dexterously proclaimed that Moawiyah 
must therefore, of necessity, be retained. Hence the schism 
between the Shiahs* and the Sunnis. At length three Ka- 
radjis devoted themselves for the destruction of the three men 
who caused such effusion of blood. The two appointed to 
assassinate Amru and Moawiyah were arrested. Ali alone 
perished, in the sixty-third year of his age, in the very year 
which the prophet had predicted should close the caliphat 
(661). Hassan, his eldest son, was set up by the Shiahs; but 
being of a peaceable disposition, he entered into an engage- 
ment with Moawiyah, and resigned the caliphat, after having 
held it for six months. He was allowed a pension for life, 
which was terminated by poison administered by his wife, who 
acted under the guidance of Yezid, the son of Moawiyah. 

2) The Ommaiyad Caliphs, 661—750. 

Moawiyah i., great grandson of Omaiya, a Koreishite, 
removed the residence of the caliph from Medina to Damascus. 
He reigned for twenty years, during which period he turned 
his arms against the Turks beyond the Oxus, and overran the 
Greek provinces of Asia Minor and Africa. For seven years 
he successively attacked Constantinople, while other armies 
ravaged Libya, where the caliphat of Kairwan, or Cairoan, 
was founded. He made the caliphat hereditary in his family, 
by having it secured during his lifetime to Yezid. 

* The Schiites, or Shiahs, consider the first caliphs to have "been 
usurpers ; the Sunnis, or Sonnites, declare that they were legitimate 
monarchs, elected according to the Sonna, or traditional laws. The 
Turks, Egyptians, and Arabs are of the Sonnite sect ; the Persians, and 
a great majority of the Tartars, and several Indian principalities, are of 
the Schiite, or Shiah, sect. 

75 e2 



A.D. 710 11.] OMMAIYAD CALIPHS. [§ 16. 

a) Conquests in the West. — Under the thirteen caliphs of 
this dynasty, the Arabian conquests may be said to have 
attained their utmost limits. Akbah, the general of Moawi- 
yah, had already penetrated beyond the Atlas Mountains, and 
seized a portion of Morocco ; but, by a series of reverses, some 
of the towns and cities west of Barca were lost. On the 
arrival, however, of Hassan, Carthage fell, and soon after the 
whole of Byzantine Africa was subjugated. At first the 
Berber tribes and the Romans refused to acknowledge the 
caliphs and embrace Islamism, but at length some took refuge 
in the mountains, while the majority embraced the Moslem 
faith. Scarcely had Africa been conquered, when the Arabians 
were offered an introduction into Spain, and Julian, a Visi- 
gothic chief of Spain, who considered the assumption of royalty 
on the part of Roderic an usurpation, offered his assistance. 
Musa despatched Tarik, his lieutenant, across the strait with 
500 Arabs (710). He landed at Gebel-al-Tarik (Gibraltar), 
where he was joined by a host of disaffected Christian Goths, 
and in 711 he again landed with reinforcements consisting of 
5,000 men, and, after some lesser conflicts, met Roderic him- 
self with 100,000 troops, near Xeres, on the Guadelete. After 
seven days' hard fighting, the conflict terminated in favour of 
the Arabs, who had been materially assisted by the desertion 
of Opas, the bishop of Seville, and other nobles, including the 
sons and other relatives and friends of Witiza. King Roderic 
disappeared. Musa, jealous of the success of his lieutenant, 
ordered the operations to be suspended ; Tarik, however, 
pursued his conquests, and on the arrival of Musa, he was 
thrown into prison. The dissensions between Musa and Tarik 
led the Caliph Walid to recall both, just as they were about 
to cross the Pyrenees. The conduct of Tarik was approved, 
but Musa was fined, and publicly exposed to the heat of the 
sun, and imprisoned, by Suleiman, who had succeeded Walid 
in the caliphat. Meanwmile, his two sons, whom he had left in 
charge of the governments of Africa and Spain, were beheaded 
by the orders of the caliph, and the head of the elder, Abde- 
laziz, sent to Damascus, where it was exhibited to the father, 
who was asked if he recognised the features. The Arabians 
imposed heavy tributes upon their Christian Spanish subjects, 
but left them in undisturbed possession of their property, 
laws, and religion. The new lieutenant of the caliph in Spain, 
Zama, crossed the Pyrenees, seizing Narbonne and all that 
76 



§16.] EMPIRE OF THE CALIPHS. 

part of Gaul which had remained in the hands of the Visi- 
goths. In 732, Abderrahman made a still further attempt to 
wrest Gaul from the dominion of the Franks. Charles Martel 
met the Arabians on the plain of Poictiers, and defeated them. 
Abderrahman fell, and Europe, probably to this day, owes its 
religious liberties and freedom to the victor of Poictiers, Charles 
the Hammerer. (Comp. § 13.) 

b) Also in the East, Moawiyah had extended his conquests 
north to Samarkand, and south to the Indus. Taking advan- 
tage of the disturbed state of the Persian province of Armenia, 
the Arabians wrested it out of the hands of Sapor, and also a 
portion of Asia Minor from the Greeks. Constantinople was 
twice besieged, but in vain ; the Greek fire saved the capital, and 
burned up the fleets of the Arabians, who also lost upwards 
of 100,000 men by pestilence, famine, and cold, and an unpre- 
cedented winter which then prevailed. 

At the period of its greatest extent, the Empire of the 
Caliphs contained, 

a) In Europe, nearly the whole of Spain, with the Narbonne 
territory in Southern Gaul, the Balearic or Spanish Isles, with 
Corsica, Sardinia, etc., and no inconsiderable tracts of country 
in Southern Italy. 

b) In Africa, the whole northern coast to the desert and 
Egypt. 

c) In Asia, South-western Asia, from the Mediterranean 
Sea, and the Arabian or Persian Gulf, to the Mustag Mountains 
(Thian Shan), on the Upper Indus, and the territory on the 
Lower Indus ; north to the Caucasus, the Caspian, or Chazar, 
and the Aral Seas, the Jihon, or Juxartes. In Asia Minor, 
the province of Cilicia to Tersoos (Tarsus). 

During the period of the extension of the empire, the 
reigning dynasty severely oppressed the provinces by their 
enormous exactions. They were also engaged in cruel wars 
against the descendants of Ali, who ruled in Irak, and formed 
the Fatimide party, whose banners were green. To these 
were opposed the Ommaiyads, who were distinguished by their 
white standards. The wars between the rival powers were 
long and sanguinary. Abbas, the great grandson of Abbas, 
the uncle of the prophet, whose banner was black, ultimately 
raised the whole of Asia in favour of the descendants of Ali. 
Merwan ii., the last of the Ommaiyads, was defeated and killed 
in Egypt (750), when peace was concluded, and twenty-four 
77 



A.D. 750.] AUTHORITY OF THE CALIPHS. [§ 16. 

of the family of Ommaiyad were invited to a banquet of 
reconciliation at Damascus, when, with the exception of one 
who contrived to escape, they were cruelly butchered, and the 
feast immediately took place, amidst the dying groans and 
agonies of the sufferers. This was only as an introduction 
to that general massacre in which 600,000 Ommaiyads were 
murdered in cold blood in Khorassan alone. The throne of 
the Abassides was now, under the influence of Abu-Moslem, 
the real chief of the Abassidian party, firmly established. 
Abderrahman, the Ommaiyad who escaped, after quitting 
Syria, and traversing Africa as a fugitive, on his arrival in 
the neighbourhood of Marocco, learned that the white flag 
was still triumphant in Spain. He therefore crossed the 
strait, and presented himself to his friends on the coast of 
Andalos (Andalusia), and was elected to the caliphat of Cor- 
doba. (Comp. § 11.) 

Constitution. — The authority of the caliphs was spiritual as well as 
temporal. The latter might be resigned, but the former, as in the case 
of Hassan, was held to be inalienable. He remained Imam, although 
he resigned his dignity as caliph. During the earlier period of the 
caliphat, the caliphs rendered an account of their administration every 
week to the people, who assembled for the occasion, as well as to take 
part in the deliberations. When, under Moawiyah, the caliphat became 
hereditary, it also ceased to be of a democratic character, and soon 
became despotic and absolute. The first caliphs were remarkable for 
the simplicity of their mode of living, especially the stern Omar, who, 
although the sovereign of nearly the whole of Asia, yet frequently slept 
upon the steps of the mosque at Medina, and lived upon barley bread 
and water. At length, the immense ransoms and tributes which they 
received from their enemies so enriched them, that they began to imitate 
the voluptuous and luxurious orientals, from whom the greater portion 
of their wealth had been derived. The governors of the provinces, too, 
at the same time obtained, in addition to the civil authority, the mili- 
tary command ; hence, in after times, they ruled as independent princes, 
and became formidable foes to the caliph. 



78 



§ 17.] NEW PERSIAN EMPIRE. 

§17. 
THE NEW PEKSIAN EMPIEE, 226—651. 
•) 



The extent of the empire founded by Artaxerxes I. (Ardeschir), the 
eon of Sassan, varied considerably at different periods. Under Chosroes 
I. it extended from the Mediterranean to the Indus, and from the 
Jaxartes as far as Arabia and Egypt. Under Chosroes II. it embraced 
Yemen in Arabia. The four great provinces into which it was divided 
were Assyria, Media, Persis or Persia, and Bactriana. The imperial 
residence was Ctesiphon on the eastern bank of the Tigris, which, with 
the opposite city of Seleucia, formed Madain, or the double city. 

The Persians were almost always engaged in warfare, and 
were as formidable in a retreat, from their peculiar mode of 
fighting, as when they faced the enemy in order. Their wars 
were chiefly with the nations on their frontiers — the Greeks 
and Eomans; and the Turks and the Arabians. (See § 15). 
Next to the founder (Artaxerxes), who professed to be a lineal 
descendant of the ancient Persian monarchs, ranked Chosroes 
I., known in the East under the name of Nurshivan the Just. 
He was a contemporary of Justinian, and terminated the war 
commenced by his father Bahrain against the Byzantine em- 
pire. Instigated, however, by the East Goths he renewed the 
war, and attacked the Syrian province ; but on the appearance 
of Belisarius he retired, and employed all his energies for the 
recovery of the Lazic territories, which had revolted. After a 
long contest, the Colchians agreed to the payment of an annual 
tribute, and the war was concluded. The empire, during the 
forty-eight years of his government, was rather remarkable 
for its internal prosperity than for the extension of its bounda- 
ries. The provinces were governed by viziers, whose conduct 
was so severely scrutinized that there was no room allowed for 
venality or peculation. Legislation, war, and finance under- 
went considerable improvements. Agriculture was fostered 
and protected, while the artificial irrigation of the soil rendered 
it more productive. Upper and lower schools of learning were 
established, and the most renowned scholars of Greece and 
Asia frequented the Persian court, where Chosroes caused the 
works most celebrated in Greece and India to be translated 
for the benefit of his subjects. He died at the advanced age 
of eighty; and left his unworthy and odious son Ormouz or 
Hormuz to succeed him. — {For the dissolution of the Empire of 
the Arabs, see § 16.) 
79 



B.C. 450.] THE SCLAVONIANS. [§ 18. 

C. The North-east of Europe. 

§18. 

THE SCLAYES OR SCLAYONIANS. 

The earliest historic records represent the Sclaves as having 
immigrated into Europe from the high lands of Central Asia. 
On their arrival, they probably mingled with the Thracians, 
or Pelasgi, the Celts, and the Lithuanians; between the two 
former of whom and the Sclavi a great similarity existed in 
religion, language, and manners, etc., which was of a European 
rather than of an Asiatic character. 

The primitive, native, and general name of the Sclaves was Sorbi, 
Sorbes. The earliest name by which they are mentioned by ancient 
(chiefly G-erman) authors is that of Wends (Yenedi). Sclaves and Antes 
were the designations applied in more recent times to two of the prin- 
cipal tribes. 

On the arrival of the Huns (Avars?) from the remote 
regions of Asia, some of the Sclavish tribes (as the Alani, etc.) 
were subdued, and subsequently became amalgamated with 
them, and wandered along the northern shores of the Euxine 
until they settled in Dacia and Pannonia. On the dissolution 
of the Hunnish empire in the middle of the fifth century, partly 
on account of the great increase of their numbers, and partly 
because of the advance of the Avars and Bulgares from the 
north-east into the south-west of Europe, the Sclaves migrated 
towards the west as far as the Elbe and the Saale, which had 
been deserted by the German and Suevic tribes which had 
migrated south into Gaul and Upper Italy, etc. They also 
spread themselves southward across the Danube into the former 
Roman province of Dacia, the territory of which they occupied 
from the Adriatic to theiEgean Sea, where, being an agricultural 
people, they purposed to remain, rearing their flocks and herds 
in the fruitful plains of those regions. The Sclaves subse- 
quently spread themselves over the half of Europe, and are 
divided, according to language, as follows : — 

a) South-eastern Sclaves : the three principal nations 
of which are the Russians, the Bulgarians, and the Illyrians. 

b) Western Sclaves : to which belong the Letes, or Leches, 
(Poles), including the Silesians and the Pomeranians, the 
Czechis (Bohemians), with the Moravians, and the Polabic 
races between the Saale, the Elbe, and the Oder. 

80 



§ 19.] geographical survey of europe. [752 1000 a.d. 

Second Period. 

From the Accession of the Carlovingians and Abassides until the period 
of the Crusades, 752—1100. 

§19. 

GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OP EUROPE AT THE TIME 
OP CHARLEMAGNE. 

1) In Spain: the Emirate of Cordoba, north 
of the Douro ; the Christian kingdom of Asturias. 

2) The Franks had already, under the Merovingians, pos- 
sessed themselves of all the territories between the Pyrenees in 
the sonth, and the Ems in the north. Under Charlemagne, 
the Spanish March ; the kingdom of the Langobardi in Upper 
and Central Italy; and the territories of the Saxons were 
added, with a part of the kingdom of the Avars founded by 
them in the ancient Dacia, and extending over the province 
of Pannonia, first, as far as the Ems, and subsequently to the 
Theiss. 

The empire of Charlemagne embraced — 1. Neustria, or Western 
France. 2. Aquitania, with Vasconia. 3. Septimania, or Gothia. 4. 
The Spanish March. 5. Burgundy, with Provence. 6. Austrasia, or 
Eastern France. 7. Frisia. 8. Alemannia. 9. Boiaria (Bavaria), with 
its Marches. 10. Saxonia. 11. Carinthia (March of Carantana). 12. 
The central lands of the Sclavi (Bohemia and Moravia). 13. Lango- 
bardi. 14. The Duchy of Friuli. 15. The Exarchate (Ravenna), and 
the Pentapohs (Romania). 16. The Duchy of Tuscia. 17. The Duchy 
of Rome (Ducatus Romanus, or the Patrimony of St. Peter). 18. The 
Duchy of Spoleto. 19. Sardinia and Corsica. 

3) The Bulgares. A Sclavonic Tartar (Turkish?) tribe 
originally on the river Kama, where a Bulgarian kingdom was 
established. Descending the Volga they wandered along the 
northern shores of the Euxine, and in the seventh century 
founded an extensive kingdom along the Danube and the 
Haemus, which was afterwards extended across the Danube to 
the rise of the Theiss. 

4) The empire of the Chazars — an eastern Germanic 
race strongly mixed with the Turkish — extending from the 
Volga to the Dniester, and embracing what is now Southern 
Russia. This tribe maintained themselves against the Persians, 
the Greeks (Romans), and the Russians, but fell on the inva- 
sion of Europe by Zinghis Khan. 

81 e 3 



A.D. 752 1000.] GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF EUROPE. [§ 19. 

5) The North of Europe at this period was partly- 
occupied by the kingdoms of the Normans, the Danes, 
and the Swedes, united by one common origin, and partly 
by Finnish or Tschudish tribes. Towards the end of the 
ninth century, however, five Norman states arose : a) out of 
the ruins of about thirty petty chieftaincies, which were sub- 
jected to the sway of and animated by Harald Harfagr, king 
of Norway, whose government extended to the White Sea; 
b) Sweden, by the union of the Goths (Gottland) and 
Swedes under one government ; c) Danemark, when the 
kings of the Danish Isles and in Juteland recognised Gosun, 
the elder, as their king ; d) Iceland, discovered and peopled 
by the Norwegian chiefs, and erected into a republic ; e) the 
kingdom of Man, founded also by Norwegian adventurers, 
and embracing the groups of islands off the coast of Scot- 
land. 

6) The British Isles. In Britain seven Anglo-Saxon 
kingdoms or principalities were founded, which were after- 
wards reduced to three and finally (827) united into one, 
when they formed the single kingdom of A n g 1 e Land or 
Englaland. On the western coasts, the native Britons 
long maintained themselves. The kingdoms of the Picts and 
Scots were (838) united into one, that of Scotland. Ire- 
land was divided into five sovereignties — namely, Ulster, 
Connaught, Meath, Minister, and Leinster. 

7) The Byzantine or Greek empire embraced the 
country south of the Danube, the Venetian States (consisting 
of the islands of the Lagunes and the territory in Upper Italy), 
Istria, the Duchy of Naples, and Southern Calabria. (Comp. 
§ 8.) While the Roman provinces on the Danube had to con- 
tend with the Sclavish tribes, which were continually advanc- 
ing towards the left bank of that river, single branches of which 
continued to locate themselves here and there over the whole 
western portion of the empire. The Asiatic provinces were 
assailed by the Arabians. 

In Lower Italy, the several Langobardian principalities 
still maintained themselves against the continued aggressions of the 
Greeks and Saracens, and afterwards against the Normans ; and existed 
in a greater or lesser degree of independence until the eleventh century. 

North-east of the empire of Charlemagne were the W e n d e s (Venedi) 
and S o r b e s, or Sorabes, the Bohemians (C z e c h i) and Moravians, 
tributaries ; while further east were numerous Sclavish tribes still 
ruled over by native princes. 
82 



§ 20.] pepin. [752 — 68 a.d. 

§20. 
THE FEANCONIAN EMPIEE UNDEE THE CAELO- 

VINGTANS, 752—887. 

1. Pepin the Short, 752—768. 

In 752, Pepm, the Mayor of the Palace, was raised to the 
throne of the Franks by the authority of the Pontiff Zachary, 
and was, therefore, bound in some measure to support the 
apostolic see. When the Lombards, whose territories surrounded 
on all sides the Eoman duchy, not only seized a part of its 
possessions, but compelled the payment of an annual tribute, 
Stephen n., who had succeeded to Zachary, applied to the 
Greek emperor for assistance, for Eome was yet a dependency 
of the eastern empire. The Pope not succeeding, proceeded to 
France, where the comitia of the Franks assembled by Pepin 
pledged itself to defend him. Before this, however, Stephen, 
who took up his abode at St. Denis, crowned Pepin for the 
second time (754), as well as his queen Bertrada, and his two 
sons Charles and Carloman. He also conferred upon Pepin 
the title of Patrician of the Eomans. Pepin marched towards 
Lombardy, and defeated Astolphus, who promised restoration 
of all which he had taken from the Eoman duchy. Astolphus, 
indignant at the conduct of the Eomans and Franks (755), 
prepared to attack Eome itself with a large army, when the 
pope again earnestly solicited the help of Pepin, which was 
promptly rendered. The Lombards were defeated at Pavia, 
and gladly consented to the terms imposed upon them by 
Pepin — namely, to restore the towns of the exarchate of 
Eavenna, and to deliver Pentapolis and the duchy of Eome 
to the Church of Eome, and not to the Eoman empire. 
The keys of these cities were laid at the feet of the pope, 
and thus was laid the foundation of the temporal power of the 
papal see. 

In Southern Graul, Pepin, assisted by the Visigoths, attacked the 
Saracens. Narbonne was besieged, when the Christian population 
massacred the Mohammedans who guarded the ramparts, and the city 
fell into the hands of the Franks, which was now for the first time 
united to the monarchy. The Saxons (753) threw off the yoke, but 
Pepin crossed the Ehine, and, having defeated them, compelled them 
to pay a heavier amount of tribute than before. The Aquitanian war 
lasted nine years (from 760 to 768), and was remarkable for its frightful 
devastations. Berri and Auvergne were wholly destroyed. Bourges, 
Thouars, Limousin, and Issaudon were fortified, and counts placed in 
them to secure the conquered territories, as also were Poictiers, 
83 



A.D. 768 74.] WARS OF CHARLEMAGNE. [§ 20. 

Limoges, etc. Subsequently the whole of Aquitania was, on the 
assassination of Gruaifer, its duke, added to the crown (768). 

Pepin appointed his two sons as his successors ; and, before 
all the grandees of the state, including the bishops and prelates 
of the church, divided the monarchy between them. The West 
was assigned to Charles, and the East to Carloman; an in- 
equality of division which afterwards was the cause of centuries 
of revolutions and civil war. 

2. Charlemagne (768 — 814) was born 742, but where 
is uncertain. The ambition of Charles armed the brothers 
against each other, and but for the death of Carloman (771) 
would have ended in a civil war between them. Charles, on 
the death of his brother, convoked the comitia of that part 
of France which had been assigned to his brother, which 
assembly suffered him to seize his dominions without any 
regard to the sons of Carloman, who, with their mother, 
fled to Lombardy. 

Wars of Charlemagne. 

a) Conquest of Lombardy, 773 — 774. Charles, 
yielding probably to the wishes of Bertha, his mother, had 
repudiated his first wife (Himiltrude?), by whom he had no 
family, to marry Desirea, the daughter of Didier, king of the 
Lombards ; but a year after, he divorced her, without assign- 
ing any reason, and conveyed her back to her father. Soon 
after he married his third wife, Hildegarde, one of the daughters 
of the Duke of Swabia, 771. The king of the Lombards, 
exasperated at the conduct of Charlemagne, resolved to sup- 
port the claims of the sons of Carloman to the throne of their 
father, and proceeded to Eome to have them consecrated by 
the newly elected pope (Hadrian I.) The pontiff refusing to 
grant this request, the Lombards seized upon the Pentapolis, 
and threatened the capital itself. Hadrian despatched a mes- 
senger to Charlemagne, who brought the matter before the 
comitia ; this assembly resolved upon the defence of the Eoman 
territories. Pavia was besieged, and Charles passed on to 
Eome, where he was received with great pomp and solemnity. 
Charlemagne confirmed the act of donation which Pepin, his 
father, had made to the church ; and which probably included 
Spoleto and the greater part of the kingdom of Lombardy, 
which Charlemagne was occupied in conquering. Pavia, on 
the return of Charles to the army, capitulated, having sus- 
tained a siege of sis months. Didier, or Desiderius, and his 
84 



§ 20.] WARS OF CHARLEMAGNE. [772 804 A.D. 

wife, with the widow of Carloman and her two sons, were 
taken prisoners ; and Charlemagne assumed the title of King 
of the Lombards (or of Italy) 774. 

Nearly the whole kingdom of Lombardy became Franconian. The 
Duchy of Beneventum alone remained free, while the Duchy of 
Spoletum passed over to the church. The constitutional privileges 
of the Lombards, however, were secured to them. In 776, Rosgaudes, 
the governor of Friuli, with the dukes and counts of Lombardy, driven 
to extremes by the denunciations of the pope, endeavoured to place 
Adelgise, the son of Desiderius, upon the throne. Charles hastened 
from the banks of the Rhine, and entered Lombardy by the Tyrol. 
Rosgaudes was taken prisoner and beheaded. The Lombard counts 
were changed, and Franks everywhere placed in their stead. 

b) Wars against the Saxons, 772—804. The 
Saxons (a German race) differed essentially from the Franks, 
and were closely connected with the Normans. They were 
divided into Westphalians (between the Ehine and Ems), 
Eastphalians (between the Weser and the Elbs), and 
Nordalbingians (on the other side of the Elbe as far as 
the Eider, the primitive land of the Saxons). From the 
earliest periods, the Saxons and the Franks had been hostile 
to each other ; and ever since the accession of Clotaire i. the 
Merovingian Franks had been engaged in continual struggles 
with them, which only ended in the accession of territory, and 
the imposition of an annual tribute, the payment of which was, 
after a short time, withheld. The Saxons, with just as much 
obstinacy, resisted the efforts made to Christianize them ; they 
massacred the missionaries and their converts at Davenser, 
and destroyed the churches in which they were assembled. 
At the diet of Worms (the Field of May) war was declared 
against the Saxons, and their entire subjection and conversion 
were resolved upon. The political aim of this was to 
effect the consolidation of all the Germanic races into one 
great political power or sovereignty, which could only be 
secured by the subjection of the Saxons, and the extending 
of the boundaries of the empire towards the north-east. The 
religious object of the war was to win over the Saxons to 
the Christian faith, and thus to secure the same religion for 
the people of Eastern Franconia and Thuringia. Both these 
objects the Saxons obstinately and resolutely endeavoured 
to defeat. 

In the first nine years of the war, Charles, with his army, 
penetrated the Saxon territories to the Weser, devastating all 
85 



A.D. 772 6.] WARS OF CHARLEMAGNE. [§ 20. 

the country as he passed along: subsequently lie carried his 
victorious army even to the Elbe, when the fortifications 
were destroyed, and hostages delivered up by the Saxons 
as security for the fulfilment of the conditions imposed on 
them. But no sooner had Charles departed for Italy or 
Spain, to carry on the war in those quarters, than the 
Saxons revolted, and even ravaged the frontiers of the Fran- 
conian empire. They were, however, on the approach of 
the king, always reduced to submission. 

First Campaign (772). — Eising from the Field of May, at 
Worms, Charles crossed the Rhine at Mayence, and took the Saxon 
fortress of Ehresburg (Stadtbergen on the Diemel), and overthrew the 
idol Hermansul, the object of veneration at Merseberg, and which seems 
to have been a column raised in honour of all the Germanic nation 
(Herman-Saule), probably from Herman, the conqueror of Varus, and 
the liberator of G-ermany. This campaign was the longest and the most 
cruel which Charles ever undertook, and was ended by a treaty, for the 
fulfilment of which twelve hostages were delivered up. 

Second Campaign (772). — During the absence of Charles in 
Italy, the Saxons reconquered the fortress of Ehresburg, and, under the 
command of Witikind, penetrated the Franconian territories on the 
lower Rhine, overran Hesse, and would have destroyed the temple 
erected by St. Boniface at Fritzlar, but that they feared the God of the 
Christians. Charles assembled the Franks, and held the Field of May 
at Duren ; and finding them ready to second him in taking vengeance 
on the Saxons, he led Ins army across the Rhine, and took the Saxon 
mountain fort of Siegeberg, and raised the fortifications of Ehresburg, 
which the Saxons had destroyed, and garrisoned it. At Brunesberg he 
defeated them with great slaughter, when he crossed the Weser. He 
again met them at Buch, where the Westphalian king took the oath of 
fidelity. The Angarian Saxons soon followed their example, and bound 
themselves by oaths and hostages to observe fidelity. Charles now 
returned to his castle of Schelestadt, in Alsatia, to celebrate the 
festivities of Christmas. 

Third Campaign (776). — In the spring of 776, during the 
absence of Charles on his second Italian campaign, the Saxons again 
surprised the castle of Ehresburg, and attacked that also of Siegeberg ; 
but they had been, before his arrival, repulsed. Charles therefore 
recrossed the Julian Alps, and returned in haste to Worms, where he 
had convoked the assembly. On the breaking up of the diet, Charle- 
magne advanced rapidly into Saxony, before the country was prepared 
for defence. On his arrival at the source of the Lippe, the Saxons 
begged hard for mercy, and swore that they were ready to become 
Christians. They submitted to be baptized, gave new hostages, and 
consented to the rebuilding of the fortress of Ehresburg, and the 
building of another on the Lippe. Charles retired to his palace of 
Heristal, upon the Meuse. Not feeling himself assured, however, of 
their submission, he proceeded no further from their frontiers. The 
86 



§ 20.] WARS OF CHARLEMAGNE. [779 82 A.D. 

Field of May was now convoked at Paderborn, in the midst of the 
Saxon territory, to which assembly the Saxons were also invited. They 
took part in the deliberations, and confirmed their preceding engage- 
ments. Witikind, however, the most powerful among the Westpha- 
lian sovereigns, was absent. Despairing of being able to resist the 
Franks, he had passed into Scandinavia to obtain assistance. Not- 
withstanding, the Saxons, with many of their chief nobility, were 
baptized. 

Fourth and Fifth Campaigns (779— 780) .—"Whilst Charles 
was engaged against the Saracens on the other side of the Pyrenees, 
Witikind had returned to Saxony, and stirred up his countrymen to 
rebellion. They ravaged the country of the Kipuarian Franks, from 
Duisburg as far as the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle, carrying 
fire and sword into all the palaces as well as into the villages, and de- 
stroyed the sacred edifices. Charles ordered the Grermans and Austra- 
sians of his army to defend then* homes against the Saxons, whom they 
overtook laden with booty at a village in Hesse (Badenfeld or Lihesi?), 
and annihilated them as they were endeavouring to cross the Adern 
(778) . In the spring of 779, Charles took the field himself, and crossing 
the Rhine early, advanced to the Lippe. The Saxons endeavoured to 
make a stand at Buckholz, but were defeated. Charles penetrated into 
the country, and compelled one canton after another to sue for peace 
and embrace Christianity, as a means of escaping massacre. The West- 
phalians submitted first, then those of Bardengau, and several of the 
Nordalbingians were baptized. The Angarians and the Eastphalians 
afterwards came to Charles, at his seat of Medfull, on the Weser, and 
took the oath of fidelity, and delivered up hostages. During the winter, 
the king led back his army to the Rhine, and sojourned at Worms ; but 
on the return of spring, he again entered Saxony at the head of his 
army. He visited the fortress of Ehresburg, and, ascending the Lippe, 
turned east, and established himself on the banks of the Obacre at 
Ohrhehn, where he had appointed to meet the East Saxons, who were 
baptized. He next halted at the confluence of the Ohre and the Elbe, 
where he settled the misunderstandings of the Saxons on the left 
bank of the Rhine with the Yenedi (a Sclavonian race) on the right 
bank. Charles now marched back to France, and disbanded his army 
(780). 

After the lapse of two years, the war was renewed (782). 
Witikind, as soon as Charles had re-crossed the Rhine, re- 
turned from his hiding place in some part of Norman Ger- 
many or Scandinavia, and persuaded the Saxons again to take 
up arms. Of these movements Charles was ignorant, but he 
learned that the Sclavonian Sorabes had crossed the Saale, 
and invaded Thuringia and Saxony. He therefore despatched 
three of his chief officers with orders to assemble armies com- 
posed of Saxons and Austrasians, people most interested in 
resisting the brigandages of the Sclavonians. On learning the 
defection of the Saxons, the three officers entered Saxony with 
87 



A.D. 782 — 4.] WARS OF CHARLEMAGNE. [§ 20. 

Austrasians alone, and were joined by the Ripuarian Franks 
under Count Thederic, a kinsman of Charles. The armies of 
the Saxons and the forces of the Franks met north of Mount 
Sonnethal, near Munder. The Franks under the three lieu- 
tenants began the attack, and before the arrival of Thederic, 
who was to have occupied the opposite bank of the Weser, 
they were surrounded, and almost all massacred. Charles 
now headed the military operations himself, and entered 
Saxony ; but the armies which had vanquished his lieu- 
tenants had dispersed ; Witikind had retired to the Normans. 
The Franks under Thederic had experienced no resistance, 
and the Saxon counts obeyed the call of their monarch to 
assemble with the comitia of the Franks, when Witikind 
was accused of exciting the Saxons to revolt. Charles, how- 
ever, demanded the surrender of those who had borne arms 
in the campaign, a deed which they basely complied with: 
4,500 were beheaded in one day, at a place called Verden, 
on the banks of the Aller ; after which sanguinary execution 
Charles retired to his palace at Thionville. The Saxons, 
incensed at this act of savage cruelty, flew to arms on every 
side, but it was in vain. Charles, who had been informed of 
their movements, hastily left Thionville at the head of his 
army, with which he rapidly passed the Rhine, and entered 
the Saxon territory. The Saxons awaited him at Theutmold 
(Dethmold), near Mount Osnegg, where they were nearly all 
cut to pieces; the Franks also sustaining a loss so consi- 
derable, that Charles was obliged to retire to Paderborn, to 
await the arrival of reinforcements from France. The Saxons, 
not expecting any clemency from the conqueror, assembled 
another army on the banks of the Hase, in Westphalia (near 
Osnabruck). Here they were conquered a second time : those 
who did not perish on the field of battle were carried away 
into captivity. The Frankish army returned loaded with 
the spoils of the vanquished. Charles retired to his palace at 
Heristal; and having gained two such victories, resolved not 
to grant the Saxons any respite until they were entirely sub- 
jugated ; the greatest difficulty, however, in incorporating them 
with the Franks, consisted in compelling the adoption of the 
Christian faith. 

The campaign of 784 was opened by the destruction of 
all the Westphalian villages, and those of East Saxony were 
afterwards devastated. Charlemagne intended to proceed fur- 



§ 20.] WARS OF CHARLEMAGNE. [793 8 A.D. 

ther north, but was compelled by the inundations, caused by 
the excessive rains, to take up his abode in the fortress of 
Ehrenburg, from which, in fine weather, his troops sallied out 
and ravaged the surrounding territory. Charles summoned 
the assembly (Field of May) to meet at Paderborn ; after which 
he advanced to Bardengau, where he was informed that the 
Saxon chief Witikind and his followers were on the opposite 
side of the Elbe, and disposed to treat. Witikind and Alboin, 
his brother, in the name of their countrymen, swore to re- 
main in peace and obedience, and received baptism. Charles 
loaded them with presents, and dismissed them; and during 
eight years Saxony remained at peace. In 793, Count The- 
deric, being commanded to raise an army in Frisia to assist 
Charles against the Avars, was proceeding, as he had done 
before, to cross Saxony into Bohemia, when, on his arrival 
at Rhiustri (Eustringen) on the "Weser, he was surprised by 
the Saxons, who had revolted, and with his army cut to pieces. 
All Saxony had now thrown off the Christian faith, and re- 
turned to the worship of its national deities. Charles, accom- 
panied by his son, prepared to chastise the rebellious Saxons. 
On his appearance at Suitfeloe, they agreed to all the condi- 
tions proposed, and delivered up hostages. In the following 
spring, the Saxons did not assemble at the Field of May, over 
which Charles presided, at his palace of Kuffenstein ; he there- 
fore resolved to punish their thus neglecting to rally under his 
banner. Charles ravaged the country, and established himself 
at Bardengau, where he awaited the Obotrites and the Weltzi, 
or Weletaibi, whom he had appointed to meet, in concert with 
him to lay waste the Saxon territory. The Saxons, however, 
waylaid the Weltzian king and his army, which they cut to 
pieces. This proceeding so exasperated Charles, that he, 
with the Obotrites, devastated with fire and sword all which 
they could reach. After demanding fresh hostages, the king 
returned to Achen (Aix-la-Chapelle). Every year Charles 
resolved an expedition into Saxony ; but now he determined to 
weaken what he could not subdue. He burned the villages 
and massacred the inhabitants ; and when he accepted hostages, 
almost every family was required to give up one. These he 
distributed throughout every village in France and Italy, even 
to the utmost extremities of his empire. His camp was estab- 
lished at Herr Stall (quarters of the army — Heristal), which 
he made the centre of all his future excursions into Saxony. 
89 ' 



a.d. 802; 778.] wars of Charlemagne. [§ 20. 

In 798, the Saxons surprised the royal lieutenants (MissiDomi- 
nici), and massacred them; they also murdered Charles' am- 
bassador to Siegfrid, king of Denmark. These events so 
irritated Charles, that he ravaged with fire and sword all the 
territory which extends from the Weser to the Elbe. But the 
Saxons on the right bank of the Elbe (also called Normans), 
not having been proceeded against for these massacres, took 
courage, and attacked the Obotrites, who were the allies of the 
Franks. Charles despatched his lieutenant Eberion to the 
assistance of the Sclavonian duke, and defeated the Saxons at 
Swenden, with great slaughter. In 802, the Obotrites took 
possession of the Saxon territory on the right bank of the 
Elbe, which, however, they were compelled to abandon with 
all their dwellings, and to accept in exchange establishments 
in the interior of the empire. In 804, the twenty-third and 
last of the Saxon wars, Charles abandoned to his faithful 
allies, the Obotrites, the remaining territory of the Norman 
Saxons. Those who were not carried off by the army into 
the half-deserted provinces of Gaul and Italy, escaped to the 
Danish dominions beyond the Eyder, where they commu- 
nicated to the people of the North that hatred of the Franks 
which was so fearfully manifested in their inroads upon the 
coasts of France.* 

In the extension of the Franconian monarchy, and the distribution 
of the Saxons, lay the germ of its own dissolution. The latter caused 
an amalgamation of the Saxon with the other G-ermanic races, and 
opposed the progress of the Roman ; hence, in after times, arose a 
nation and people which entirely separated from the Grallican, Fran- 
conian, and the Itahan-Lombardian parts of the empire. The division 
of the kingdom by the treaty of Verdun, therefore, produced, in the 
next generation, a reaction quite opposed to the policy of Charlemagne, 
who had been straining to merge the different nations into one common 
mass. 

For the support of Christianity among the Saxons, eight 
bishoprics were founded by Charlemagne ; namely, Munster and 
Osnabruck for the northern half of Westphalia (the southern 
was in the jurisdiction of the archbishopric of Cologne); 
Paderborn and Minden for the Engernians ; Bremen, Verden, 
and Hildesheim for the Eastphalians ; and Halberstadt for the 
Saxons of ThurinQ-ia. 

o 

c) War in Spain, 778. — When Charles summoned 

* There was no peace formally concluded at Selz, as has been gene- 
rally supposed by Luden, Schaumann, etc. 
90 



§ 20.] BATTLE OF RONCEVAUX-DUCHY OF BAVARIA. [778-812 A.D. 

the assembly at Paderborn, during his third expedition against 
the Saxons, Ibu al Arabi, the Mussulman governor of Sara- 
gossa, appeared among the Saxon lords, accompanied by some 
of the Arabian chiefs, to solicit the protection of the monarch 
against the Emir of Cordoba (Cordova), Abderrahman I. 
Charles immediately proceeded towards Spain, crossed the 
Pyrenees by St. Jean-Pied-de-Port, arrived before Pampeluna, 
and took it; Saragossa fell, and Ibu al Arabi was restored. 
Barscheluna (Barcelona), Huesca, Jacca, and other cities were 
compelled to surrender. Charles and his army (probably 
hearing of the revolt of the Saxons) prepared to re-enter 
France with his hostages and rich booty. The kings of 
Asturias and Navarre, stirred up by Abderrahman, and fear- 
ing that Charles would displace them, and put Frankish 
nobles over their towns and cities, as he had done in the 
Spanish March, and in other places, resolved to attack 
the king and his army as they passed through the narrow 
denies of the Pyrensean mountains : hence, as the army was 
winding its way, in a crooked line, through the narrow gorges 
which it had to pass, the fleet Gascon mountaineers preci- 
pitated themselves from the heights into the valley beneath, 
where they attacked the rear of the baggage and the troops 
intended to protect it, utterly destroying the whole. The 
enemy having pillaged the baggage, then rapidly dispersed, 
and could not be traced. In this fray of the valley of Konce- 
vaux, the prefect Ptoland fell, the hero of the Spanish romances. 
By this disaster much which had been gained was lost: the 
fortifications of the Franconian Spanish March, between the 
Pyrenees and the Ebro, were, however, afterwards regained by 
Louis i., Charles's son, who, in 812, concluded a peace with 
Hashem I. 

d) Dissolution of the Duchy of Bavaria. 
The duchy of Bavaria was a dependent province of the Fran- 
conian empire. The dukes, however, possessed their lands by 
inheritance, and the laws were regulated by the voice of the 
national assemblies. Like all the vassals of the crown, how- 
ever, the dukes had to present themselves at the diet, to take 
the oath of allegiance, and to receive the confirmation of their 
titles from the king. The line of Agilolfinges was related to 
the Merovingians ; and the reigning duke, Tassilon, was the 
nephew of Charles. On the death of his mother, before Tas- 
silon had attained his majority, Grifon, the brother of Pepin, 
91 



A.D. 799 805.] WARS OF CHARLEMAGNE. [§ 20. 

was appointed regent; and while ruling in this capacity, in 
connection with the Alemanni, rebelled against the king, and 
attempted to throw off the allegiance. The rebels were sub- 
dued, and Grifon taken prisoner. Tassilon afterwards espoused 
the cause of the Duke of Beneventum (his brother-in-law) 
against Charles, and sought eagerly every opportunity of re- 
nouncing the authority of the Franks. To promote this object 
he effected an alliance with the Sclavonians which bordered 
on his territories, and made preparations for attacking either 
Italy or Gaul. Charles, while in Some, heard of these sedi- 
tious proceedings ; but to prevent evil consequences, Tassilon 
sent an embassy to Rome, offering to resign his duchy, which 
was returned to him as a common fief. Charles communicated 
an account of these proceedings to his diet assembling at 
Worms, which decided upon the invasion of Bavaria, and its 
annexation to the empire. For that purpose three armies were 
assembled, which advanced upon the duchy; that led by 
Charles encamped in the very suburbs of Augsburg. Tassilon, 
alarmed, threw himself upon the clemency of the king, and 
implored pardon. Charles, however, sent him to be tried by 
the comitia of the Franks, before which he was accused by his 
own subjects, and found guilty of high treason. . Sentence of 
death was pronounced, but Charles interceded for him, and he 
was sent to the convent of Goar, where he ended his days; his 
accomplices were banished. The duchy of Bavaria, which had 
been in the house of the Agilolfinges for at least two hundred 
years, now ceased to exist: its national constitution, however, 
was preserved. 

e) War with the Avars, 791 — 799. — In order to 
secure the eastern frontiers of the empire, which, after the 
subjection of Bavaria, extended to the Ems, Charles invaded 
the Avaric empire at three points, and advanced victoriously 
as far as the Raab. Subsequently (in 796) he despatched his 
son Pepin into Pannonia with an army composed of Lombards 
and Bavarians. They crossed the Danube, and arrived as far 
as Ringus, the fortified camj) of the Avars, where the spoils 
of the East, devastated by them, were piled. The Avars, 
being vanquished, these spoils were all seized and carried into 
France, where they were shared among the grandees and 
courtiers, after a suitable offering had been sent to the pope. 
In 804, Charles began to employ, with the Avars and the Huns, 
the same means of conquest, by conversion to Christianity, as 
92 



§ 20.] WARS OF CHARLEMAGNE. [808 11 A.D. 

had so well succeeded with the Saxons. The mission was 
intrusted to Arnon, archbishop of Salzburg, and a priest 
named Ingo, who preached the gospel throughout Carinthia 
and the Lower Pannonia. The Khan was converted, and 
baptized by the name of Theodore, while hundreds of his 
subjects also embraced the Christian faith. In the following 
year (805), they were permitted to occupy the wastes between 
the Danube and the Saave, and the conquered territory of the 
Avars was erected into the Avaric or Eastern March, 
for the cultivation of which colonies of Germans were intro- 
duced. During the war Charles made an attempt to unite the 
Ehine with the Danube, by means of a canal, the vestiges of 
which still remain. 

f) Wars of Charlemagne against the Nor- 
man Danes and the Sclavonian tribes, car- 
ried on by his son Charles . — For the better secu- 
rity of the frontier boundaries in the north and east, it was 
necessary to extend the limits of the empire as far as the 
territories of the Normans and Sclavonians. This 
brought them into collision with several Sclavonic races, 
as the Sorabes, the Wilzes, or Weletaibi, the Wendes, etc., who 
occupied the territory along the whole eastern coast from the 
Peninsula of Jutland, on the Baltic, to the Istrian peninsula, 
on the Adriatic Sea. These had, during the reign of Charles, 
become, in a measure, dependent upon the empire; but the 
Danes of the north still remained formidable, and assumed 
a threatening position. In 808, in connection with the Wilzes, 
they attacked the Obotrites, the ancient allies of the Franks, 
murdered their duke, and compelled the payment of a tribute ; 
burned Port Eerie, and stirred up the Livonians and Smel- 
dingians to revolt. Charles (son of the king) gained con- 
siderable reprisals, but could not subdue the hardy Danes: 
negotiations were entered into, and the fortress of Esselfeldt 
was built to put a stop to their ravages. In 809, while Charles 
was preparing to attack the Danes, a fleet of two hundred 
Norman ships appeared off the coasts of Frisia, which they 
ravaged, compelling the inhabitants to pay tribute, after 
having beaten the Frisian counts in three pitched battles. 
Charles himself resolved to punish this outrage ; but receiving 
intelligence of the murder of the Danish king (Godfrio), and 
of the death of his son Pepin, he retired to his palace at 
Achen. In 811, twelve Danish chieftains, and as many 
93 



A.D. 800.] RESTORATION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. [§ 20. 

Frankish counts, met upon the Eyder, on the frontiers of the 
two dominions, and concluded a peace. A peace was also 
concluded about the same time with the Wilzi, who had, the 
year before, destroyed Hobhuoki (Hamburg). 

In the last year of his life, Charles obtained, by treaty, from the 
Byzantines, Istria, Liburnia, and Dahnatia, with the exception of some 
ports on the maritime coast. 

Restoration of the Western Roman Em- 
pire, 800. 

When Pope Leo in. had been grossly insulted, during the 
progress of a public procession by the republican party, got 
up by the relatives and partisans of the late Pope Adrian I. 
(now excluded from power), he set out for Germany to seek 
Charles, the emperor of the Franks, upon whom, as sovereign 
and Patricius of Rome* and protector of the church, devolved 
the punishment of the delinquents. Charles received the 
pontiff at Paderborn, and promised him his presence and 
assistance for the settlement of the Roman affairs. On the 
24th of November, the emperor made his public entry into 
Rome, where he was met by the pope, accompanied by all 
the bishops and clergy, etc. After having held an assembly 
of all the Frankish and Roman lords, which the pope and his 
accusers attended, the former exculpated himself by the 
taking of a solemn oath from the charges laid against him, 
and his enemies were either banished or imprisoned. In return 
for this assistance, the pope, during the celebration of the fes- 
tivities of Christmas in the Vatican, while Charles was on his 
knees at the foot of the altar, advanced towards the monarch, 
and placed upon his head a crown of gold, when the pope and 
the clergy proclaimed aloud, " Long life and victory to Charles 
Augustus, crowned by God, great arid pacific emperor of the 
Romans." Thus was the Western empire renewed after an 
interruption of 324 years. 

The coronation of Charlemagne at Eome changed none of his rights 
as a sovereign, either as a temporal head over the people, or as a 
spiritual head over the church, or in his connection with the pope. 
The relation between the emperor and the pope was not, however, the 

* Soon after the election of Leo III. to the papal chair, he despatched 
legates to Charlemagne, with the keys of St. Peter, the standard of the 
city of Rome, and other presents ; requesting, at the same time, that 
certain nobles might be sent to Rome as ambassadors from Charles, to 
administer the oath of allegiance to the faithful to him. — Eghihard. 
94 



§ 20.] ADMINISTRATION OF CHARLEMAGNE. 

same as that betwixt a vassal and his lord, hut an embodiment of the 
two extremes of power — temporal and spiritual — or authority. To the 
pope was left the exercise of the spiritual authority in the church, 
with the right of crowning the emperor, and administering the oath 
for the preservation and defence of the church ; but, on the other 
hand, he was obliged to haTe his election confirmed by the crown. 
Both powers, however, agreed to act in perfect concert and harmony 
with each other m any emergency which might arise. 

Charlemagne's administration. 

The laws (leges), written in the Latin tongue, consisted 
partly of the old constitutions, and had long been in use among 
the various races of the empire. The newly conquered tribes, 
— the Saxons, the Friezes, and the Thuringians (Saxons), here- 
tofore governed by hereditary custom — now received written 
laws; whilst capitularies, or ordinances of the empire, were 
added to those already existing, for the government of the 
entire empire. 

The administration of the empire was entirely founded 
on its division into districts of gaus (hundreds). In 
each there was a count (nominated by the king), who pos- 
sessed civil and military authority ; he was the presiding judge 
of the district, to whom belonged the convoking of the Mallum, 
or placita minora, the assembly of justice, and the Heribannium, 
the meeting at which war was decided upon. It was only in 
those frontier provinces, which, touching upon the boundaries 
of an enemy, were exposed to predatory incursions, that mar- 
graves, or superior nobles, were appointed; they ruled over 
several counties, termed collectively a March, and were also 
sometimes distinguished by the name of Land-graves, or 
frontier counts. In order to obtain an accurate knowledge of 
the condition of these single provinces, and to produce a 
system of order and unity in the government of them, there 
were other officers appointed called Missi Dominici, imperial 
deputies or messengers. There were generally two sent to each 
province, one an ecclesiastic, the other a layman, both of great 
dignity; they received the revenues of the royal cities, the 
accounts of which were produced before them; and from 
their reports the royal capitularies were framed. The assem- 
blies held by these deputies were attended by the bishops, 
abbots, counts, and vassals, attorneys and the judges, and 
vidames of the abbeys (spiritual and temporal lords), by all 
w 7 ho were invested with offices of state, and privileged to 
represent the people at the national diets (Field of May). 
95 



ADMINISTRATION OF CHARLEMAGNE. [§ 20. 

As the principal province of the Prankish empire was con- 
sidered to be Austrasia, the peculiar country of the Carlovingians, it 
was within this province, at Achen, that Charles fixed the lasting seat of 
Ms court and government. Here he built his magnificent palace, which 
he called Lateran, and a splendid church (Capella), hence termed Aix- 
la-Chapelle. Besides these sumptuous edifices, there were scattered 
throughout the province at least a hundred villas, or country residences, 
of the Carlovingians, most of which were in the possession of Charle- 
magne; Nymeguen and Ingelhehn, in the Rhenish palatinate, were 
those most frequently occupied by him. 

The ecclesiastical division of the empire in the ninth cen- 
trny into metropolitan districts, consisted of twenty-one : five for Lom- 
bardy, twelve for Western Franconia, and four for Austrasia. These 
divisions appear to have received the sanction of the assembly, when 
meeting at Duren (777). 

The constitution of war. — Besides the feudatories or bene- 
ficed, all the proprietors of land were called upon to contribute to the 
formation of the army. Two hundred and ninety square feet, termed 
"The Patch," seems to have been the measure of land judged sufficient 
for the maintenance of a service family; but he who possessed three, 
and afterwards four and five manses, was compelled to be present in 
person, to follow the king (by water or on land), armed at his own 
expense with a lance and shield, or a bow, two slings, and twelve arrows. 
He was likewise to furnish himself with a stock of provisions sufficient 
for his support, until he had joined the army, unless under certain 
conditions, when he was allowed a sufficiency for three months, at the 
expense of the monarch. Those who possessed but one manse, or even 
half a manse, were compelled to join others of his equals, and to furnish 
a soldier from one of their number. The heriban of a province was 
co mm anded by the chief of the territory, under the name of lord, after- 
wards changed to that of duke. The clergy were exempted from personal 
service, and (since 803) from bearing any expenses of the war, but they 
were obliged to send their vassals into the field, if qualified. He who, 
after the general summons, did not appear in his place, was fined sixty 
golden sohcli, and as this generally exceeded his abilities, he was reduced 
to a state of slavery, until he had discharged it. Desertion from the army 
was punished by death. To wear arms in the time of peace was for- 
bidden. As the summoning of the heriban took place frequently, and 
families, even in easy circumstances, were, in consequence, plunged into 
misery, many freemen changed the character of their property, and made 
it feuda oblata, resigning it to some powerful baron, whom they bound 
themselves to serve, and from whom they in return received protection. 
In the course of time, the number of smaller proprietors considerably 
diminished, and the freeman gradually disappeared. 

C o m m e r c e. — For promoting commerce, which had during the long 
wars received a severe check, Charlemagne established many commercial 
emporiums and repositories, annual fans and markets. He also improved 
the construction of the roads and highways, and diminished the dues 
payable on the admission of foreign produce, specially that on forage 
(foderum) . His patronage and love of letters and the sciences are attested 
bv the numerous schools which he founded. He invited to his court 

96 



§•20.] louis. [814— -17 a.d. 

tlie most celebrated learned men from every country in Europe ; hence 
it became a sort of academy, or literary society, of which he himself was 
a member. With these he endeavom'ed to improve his vernactilar 
tongue, and to raise the system of education, both in the youth and the 
clergy of the realm. In the founding of schools, which he at all times 
connected with the churches and monasteries, he was guided by the 
Anglo-Saxon Alcuin, whose school, at Tours, was brought to such a 
state of excellence that it became the model for all others throughout 
the empire. His protection of the arts was liberal, especially that of 
architecture, for which he had imbibed a strong taste while in Italy and 
Rome. The cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle, tbe palaces (Pfalzen), Aix-la- 
Chapelle, Ingelheim, Nymwegen, were monuments spoken of with the 
highest admiration ; they were adorned with mmierous paintings, as 
well as with marble and mosaic work brought from Home and Ravenna. 

The succession of the sons to the power of the father had 
been a long existing cnstom among the Franconians. Since 
the re-establishment of the Western Roman empire, this law 
seemed inapplicable; but Charlemagne, who alone had the 
power to break through the long existing custom, did not 
make any innovation. After the termination of the Saxon 
war, he divided his empire amongst his three sons, Charles, 
Pepin, and Ludvig (Louis), of whom only the youngest sur- 
vived him ; the latter was declared, at a diet held at Achen, 
the successor in the royal and imperial dignities. To Pepin's 
natural son, Bernard, was given the kingdom of Italy,. Subject 
to the supremacy of his uncle. Charlemagne expired on 
the 28th of January, 814, at the advanced age of seventy- 
two years; forty-seven of which he had reigned over the 
Franks, forty- three over the Lombards, and fourteen over the 
Western empire. He was buried at Mary's, at Achen, which 
church he had built. 

3. Louis the Pious, 814—840. 

Louis, as soon as any responsibility could be attached to his 
actions (as king of Aquitania), had displayed the mildness of 
his disposition, his love of justice, his beneficence, and, in his 
zeal for religion, perhaps his weakness. He was, however, 
more enlightened than any of his predecessors and spent 
much of his time in reforming the abuses which had crept 
into the church. His morals were severe and strict, hence 
his first step was to cleanse the palace of the late monarch 
of its impurities, by banishing from the court those whose 
reputation was tainted. In 816, he and his empress, Ermen- 
garde, were crowned by Stephen iv., at Rheims, and shortly 
after his coronation he assembled the Comitise at Achen, where 
97 * 



a.d. 819—32.] louis. [§ 20. 

the king and the nobles occupied themselves for three months 
with reforming the regulations of the canons and canonesses; 
these were subsequently changed into laws, and inserted in the 
capitularies. In the year 817, the king, at the diet held at 
Achen, broke through the long established custom of patri- 
monial inheritance, which existed among the Germanic races, 
and introduced that of the Eoman. With the consent of the 
Franks, he associated his son, Lothaire, with him in the 
government of the empire, whilst the younger sons were so 
restricted in their rights as to be, in comparison with their 
elder brother, only mere governors of provinces. This ar- 
rangement, however, though it served in some degree to 
consolidate the empire, tended, through the contest which 
arose for supremacy, to sacrifice the sovereign authority to 
the feudal laws and the papal power, and became a funda- 
mental law. It was better, however, than the old German 
law • of division, which was found to be detrimental to the 
interests of the nation, whilst the Eoman was in perfect 
accordance with absolute dominion. 

In "this new arrangement, Pepin received Aquitania, and Louis, 
Bavaria. Bernhard, who had received Italia, at the instigation of 
Ermengarde was cruelly deprived of his sight, for conspiring against 
his uncle Louis, and died three days after, when Lothaire was pro- 
claimed king of Italy. 

On the death of Ermengarde, in 819, Louis married Judith, 
the beautiful daughter of Count Guelph, of Bavaria, by whom 
he had Charles the Bald, and upon whom he settled the pro- 
vinces of Allemania, Alsatia, and a portion of Burgundy, which 
was in direct opposition to that division which had been made 
and sworn to at the diet of Nymwegen. This excited the 
indignation of the two younger sons of Louis, who rebelled 
against their father. The elder son, Lothaire, had sworn to 
defend young Charles, and to maintain him in the portion 
assigned to him. The rebellion was first commenced by 
Pepin, king of Aquitania, who was afterwards joined by 
Louis, the king of Bavaria. The emperor and the empress 
were seized, but, on the arrival of Lothaire from Italy, an 
arrangement was entered into, and each retired to his re- 
spective kingdom. In 832, the three sons of Louis once 
more armed against their father, who was ruled solely by 
the will of the Empress Judith. The armies met, not to 
fight, but to negociate, at Kothfeld, near Colmar, in Alsatia. 
98 



§ 20.] LOTHAIRE. [832—41 A.D. 

The incapacity of Louis at length became so evident, that 
his nobles and his battalions nearly all deserted him. So 
universal was the defection that the place received the name 
of Lngenfeld (lying field). The emperor was treated with 
every respect by his sons, but his queen, Judith, was sent 
to the fortress of Tortona, in Italy. The former division of 
the monarchy, in 817, was confirmed, and the princes sepa- 
rated; Pepin returned to Aquitania, and Louis to Bavaria; 
while Lothaire ruled as emperor and guardian of his father, 
whom he placed in a convent ■ at Soissons. The bishops, 
who had assisted in the dethronement of Louis, compelled 
the aged monarch to do public penance, and thus rendered 
him incapable of re-ascending the throne. After this cere- 
mony, Lothaire conveyed his father to Achen. At length 
the conduct of Lothaire became so offensive, that the younger 
sons of Louis took measures to procure his liberty, in which 
they were seconded by many of the nobility. On warlike 
preparations being made, in order to compel the surrender of 
the monarch's j)erson, he suddenly fled from Paris to Vienne, 
in Dauphiny; when Louis, being left at liberty, received at 
St. Denis, through the bishops in his interest, the reconci- 
liation of the church. Being joined by his two sons, Pepin 
and Louis, he endeavoured to effect a reconciliation also with 
Lothaire, who, 'however, rejected all the overtures of his 
father, and had recourse to arms, which were at first suc- 
cessful (at Chalons). Afterwards (at Orleans) the two op- 
posing armies met again, when, at the close of four days' 
negotiation, the soldiers of Lothaire deserted in considerable 
numbers, and joined the ranks of the emperor. At length, 
Lothaire threw himself at the feet of the aged monarch, who 
freely forgave him. The intrigues of the Empress Judith, 
who had been rescued from the fortress of Tortona, con- 
tinued, however, to distract the peace of the empire, and 
the closing days of Louis were occupied in fighting against 
his son and grandson. He died, 20th June, 840, at the 
palace of Ingelheim, on an island of the Rhine, aged sixty- 
two, having reigned twenty-seven years. 

4. The successors of Louis the Meek (Pious), 
until the final division of the Empire. 

Lothaire, on the death of his father, regardless of the latter 
division of the empire, which had been effected through the 
intrigues of the Empress Judith, laid claim to the imperial 
99 p 2 



A.D. 843.] DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE. [§ 20. 

dignity and to the supremacy over the whole empire. This 
brought against him his two brothers, who defeated him in 
the great battle of Fontenay, in Burgundy, in which 40,000 
fell (841). From this period, the two people (Germans and 
Franks), whom Charlemagne had united, were filled with mutual 
hatred. At the death of Louis, the frontier, which divided 
both the people and their languages, was the same ; the Latin, 
or the Eomance, as it now began to be called, was spoken in 
the south, whilst the Teutonic was the language of those who 
resided beyond the province of Aquitania. Being thus conso- 
lidated, the Koman population had an opportunity of resisting 
the Germans, their masters, whom they held to be barbarians, 
while both nations profited by the occasion. From this, time, 
small independent states were formed, the lords of which 
only gave the monarch that support which tended to bring 
about a just and systematic division of the empire. This pre- 
vented the two younger brothers from taking those advantages 
of the victory gained over Lothaire, by which he would have 
been ruined. The people were tired of the war, and the nobles 
and bishops demanded that all the provinces should be sub- 
mitted to a regular examination. Commissioners were appointed, 
upon whose report the final division of the empire was made. 
The three kings were now compelled to agree to this arrange- 
ment, and accordingly signed the celebrated treaty of Verdun 
(843). 

a) Lothaire received — 1. Franconian Italy: Upper Italy, 
from the maritime Alps, Tuscia, the former Exarchate (Ra- 
venna), the Pentapolis, with the duchies of Rome and Spo- 
letum. 2. Central Franconia: The territory lying between 
the two kingdoms of his brothers, extending north to the 
North Sea; south, to the Mediterranean; and bounded on 
the west by the Scheldt, the Meuse, the Saone, and the 
Rhone; east, it was bounded by the Rhine and the Alps. 
Besides these there were — 1, on the eastern side of the 
Rhine, in Friezland, the tract lying upon the left bank of 
the Rhine between the Meuse and the Ems, including a 
portion of Ripuarian Franconia; and 2, on the western side 
of the Rhone, three counties which belonged to it, while 
Mayence, Worms, and Speyer (Spires), on the left bank of 
the Rhine, were excepted, agreeably to the ecclesiastical 
division of Germany by Boniface. The southern portion of 
Lothaire's empire, as far as the sources of the Meuse and the 
100 



§ 20.] LOTHAIEE LOUIS CHARLES. 

Moselle, was called Burgundia ; the northern (after Lothaire), 
Lotharingia, now called Lorraine. 

b) Louis the German had — 1. Eastern Franconia: All 
the German territories east of the Rhine (excepting Friezland 
and the Ripuarian lands belonging to Lothaire), and those 
also upon the western banks of the Rhine, and the districts 
of Mayence, Worms, and Speyer (Spires). 2. The Sclavonian 
territory on the Elbe and Saale, including the Bohemian forest, 
which latter, however, stood in very doubtful dependence 
upon the empire. 

c) Charles the Bal d. — West Franconia : All the ter- 
ritory of the Franks, situated west of Lothaire's empire, as far 
as the Pyrenees, and on the other side of Aquitania, the Spanish 
March. 

Thus Lothaire, in addition to the title of emperor, retained 
also the ecclesiastical and political capitals of the kingdom 
(Rome and Achen), which formed a sort of artificial union 
between the original seat of the Franks and Italy, in which 
there was not anything firm or solid, there was nothing dis- 
tinctive or national. Louis and Charles, on the other hand, 
ruled over kingdoms more compact, and people who were bound 
together by a common origin, whose interests were identical 
with the soil upon which they lived. Hence they soon re- 
ceived names which were derived from the people themselves. 
Lothaire's had become the kingdom of the Germans, and that 
of Charles (the Bald) the kingdom of the Franks (French). 

These kingdoms did not long remain in a quiet state. The 
three sovereigns were continually at war, endeavouring to 
crush each other. Meanwhile the independence of the nobles 
increased, they submitted to no law, and the power of the 
sovereign was so diminished, that armies could scarcely be 
raised. Profiting by the intestine commotions between the 
several princes, and the opposition of their powerful vassals, 
the Scandinavian pirates (Danes and Normans, or Northmen) 
invaded the whole line of the western coast, from Frisia to 
Bordeaux, in Aquitania, which they pillaged and destroyed. 
Encouraged probably by the kings of Lotharingia and Aqui- 
tania, who sought the destruction of each others' territories, 
the Normans ascended the Rhine, the Loire, and the Garonne, 
in their light vessels, and plundered and destroyed the cities 
of Paris, Rouen, Tours, Amboise, etc. They also made a 
descent upon the northern frontiers, with 600 armed vessels ; 
101 



A.D. 855-63.] LOTHAIRE-LOUIS II.-CHARLES THE BALD. [§ 20. 

and, entering the Elbe, plundered and razed the city of Haman- 
burg (Hamburg). Wliile the Northmen were devastating the 
Franconian empire, the Arabs and Moors were invading the 
kingdom of Italy. Kome was sacked, and the Vatican, with 
the church of St. Peter, stripped of their valuables. Louis, 
the son of Lothaire, pursued the invader, but was defeated near 
Gaeta, and compelled to make his escape. In Eastern Fran- 
conia, the Sclavonians made continual incursions into the 
German territories, and the Danes again ravaged Frisia. At 
length, the three brothers were driven, by the distressed con- 
dition of the empire, to make peace with each other, that they 
might combine against the common enemy. The king of the 
Danes was threatened with war, but he, knowing the weakness 
of the Franconian princes, ravaged the provinces still more. 
Bordeaux was again plundered, and Marseille was sacked and 
partially destroyed by the Greeks and Normans, the latter of 
whom pillaged Angers and burned Perigueux. Such was the 
state of the empire during this period, that there was not a 
city or town within the three Franconian kingdoms secure 
from the attacks of brigands and pirates. 

In 855, a civil war again arose between the princes, and was 
continued until Lothaire vacated the throne. Feeling his end 
approaching, and wishing to share in the indulgences which 
the church granted to religious orders, he took the habit of a 
monk, shortly after which he died, in his sixtieth year (855). 
The kingdom of Lothaire was divided between his three sons, 
who, not contented with their respective portions, engaged in 
a war, in which they were pursued by their avaricious uncles, 
who endeavoured to seize their inheritance. The youngest of 
the three sons of Lothaire (Charles) dying (863), his kingdom 
was divided between his two surviving brothers. Louis n. 
received the imperial title with Italy, and Lothaire in. the 
country between the Scheldt and the Saone, the Meuse and the 
Rhine, called from him Lotharii Regnum, afterwards corrupted 
into Lotharingia, Lorraine. Lothaire dying without issue, his 
kingdom, which belonged of right to the emperor, was seized 
by Charles the Bald. It was subsequently, however, by the 
treaty of Mersen, divided between the two ; Charles receiving 
Dauphiny, Lyonnais, and the greater part of Burgundy, while 
to Louis, king of Italy, were assigned the Germanic provinces 
in Alsatia, Lorraine, and on the Rhine. By this division, so 
suitable to the claims of the people, a union of language and 
102 



§ 20.] CHARLES THE FAT. [876—85 A.D. 

races was effected. The French and German races were not 
mixed in the same province as before. The principalities 
were now wholly either of a French or Germanic character. 
By this settlement, Germany gained an accession of two arch- 
bishoprics (Cologne and Treves), and three bishoprics (Utrecht, 
Strasbourg, and Basel). The frontiers were also confined by 
their proper natural or physical boundaries, and the Rhine 
became again a German river, from its source to its delta. 

On the death of the Emperor Louis 11. of Italy the Lotha- 
ringian line ceased, and the Italian kingdom belonged by right 
to Louis the German, as the elder of the Carlovingian race, 
but Charles the Bald supplanted his brother, and by rapid 
marches into Italy (where almost without drawing a sword 
the army of Louis was dispersed), he obtained the consent of 
the pope, and was crowned emperor of the West. He had, 
however, to make large concessions to the church, and to pre- 
pare for the attack of Louis, who had devastated the Fran- 
conian provinces, and was hastening towards Italy. Before 
any serious conflict took place, the emperor died (876), and 
his kingdom of Germany was divided between his three sons, 
Carloman of Bavaria, Louis of Saxony, and Charles the Fat. 
Louis, however, soon died (879), and the whole kingdom 
devolved upon the younger brother, Charles in., who received 
the imperial dignity. On the death of the elder sons of Louis 
the Stammerer (second son and successor to Charles the Bald), 
and during the minority of Louis the Simple, he became king 
of France, and the whole Franconian monarchy 
was thus once more united under one head, with the excep- 
tion of Burgundy, or Provence, which was held as a fief by 
Boson, who had married the daughter of Louis H. (879). 

d) Charles the Fat, imprudent and cowardly, proved 
naturally unfit to resist the invasions of the Normans, who 
ravaged the whole of the Franconian empire almost without 
opposition. Cologne, Bonn, and Triers (Treves), and all the 
large towns of Lotharingia, were burned and destroyed. Frisia 
was given up to them, and Charles by a stratagem procured 
the assassination of their kings and nobles, which served only 
to increase their fury, for, in 885, the Norman vessels ascended 
the Seine, and destroyed the great city of Rouen, in sight of 
an immense army, which took to flight immediately on seeing 
their enemy on the bank of the river. Soon after, they 
appeared before Paris, when the Parisians supplicated the 
103 



A.D. 887-8.] DIFFERENT SOVEREIGNTIES. [§ 20. 

assistance of the Duke of Saxony, who, on arriving, ravaged 
the territory, but did not dare to attack the Normans, who 
enjoyed the pleasures of the chase in France and Lower Bur- 
gundy, as if they were living in peace in their own country. 
After many earnest appeals for assistance, Charles advanced 
with his army to the succour of the Parisians, but to negotiate, 
not to fight. The Normans received a large sum of money to 
quit the environs of Paris, and to return to Germany. This 
shameful conduct so lowered him in the estimation of the em- 
pire, that he was treated with the greatest scorn, and looked 
upon by the nobles with contempt. At length, the monarch was 
seized with illness, and became so imbecile, that the grandees, 
at a diet held at the castle of Tribur, on the Ehine, felt it to 
be their duty to depose him (887). He soon after died in a 
state of indigence, at the castle of Indinga, in Allemania 
(Suabia), 888. At the same diet at which Charles was deposed, 
Arnulph, or Arnolphus, grandson of Louis the German, was 
elected to the German throne, and took the imperial dignity. 
Charles the Stammerer was set aside on account of his youth. 
In Francia, Count Otho of Paris, the Duke of Francia, and the 
brave defender of the imperial city when attacked by the Nor- 
mans, usurped the royal dignity ; and thus a second kingdom 
was formed by the side of the kingdom of Lower Burgundy, or 
Provence. A fourth sovereignty arose — namely, that of Upper 
or Transjuran Burgundy, founded by Count Rudolf; it extended 
from the Jura, in Sabaudia (Savoy), and Sweitz (Switzerland), 
as far as the Aar. Italy was disputed between Guido and 
Berenger, the margraves of Spoleto and Friuli, who both 
caused themselves to be proclaimed kings. The great Car- 
lovingian empire was therefore now divided into five separate 
kingdoms; not, however, entirely independent, for the newly 
formed states were compelled to acknowledge the supremacy 
of Arnulph. 

Internal or Domestic Ilistor y. — Under the weak and im- 
potent successors of Charlemagne, the power of the aristocracy, which 
that monarch had considerably humbled, again arose, and, in spite of 
the feeble attempts of the sovereigns to prevent it, became dominant. 
This the occurrence of repeated divisions of the various kingdoms tended 
to promote ; and Charles the Bald, to insure the assistance of the 
powerful vassals of the crown, granted them two important privileges, 
which proved highly detrimental to the interests of royalty — namely, 
the right of electing the sovereign, and the hereditary descent of the 
great fiefs. In less than eleven years after the death of Charles, the 
104 



§ 21.] ARNULPH. [887—91 A.D. 

great barons put their privilege of the right of election into force 
against his descendants. 

In the frontier provinces, as Saxonia and Bavaria, the 
dignity of dux or duke, abolished by Charlemagne, was 
renewed, and the margraves now united the military with the 
civil authority, and took the command of the armies on 
the frontiers, and led them forth to battle. Their power and 
title at length became hereditary in their families. The ducal 
dignity seems to have originated first in the provinces of 
Franconia, Allemania, and Lotharingia. 



§21. 

THE EASTERN ERANCONIAN EMPIRE UNDER, THE 

LAST TWO CARLOYINGIANS, 887—911. 

1) Arnulph (887 — 899), whom the Germans elected, 
at Ghent, as emperor, had distinguished himself against the 
Sclavonians, and proved a more formidable foe to the Nor- 
mans than any of his predecessors, utterly defeating them in 
Lotharingia, when thousands were drowned in endeavouring to 
escape, and two of their sovereigns perished on the field (891). 
Subsequently, however, Arnulph was himself vanquished, and 
his army scattered, by another body of Normans, who surprised 
him in the Vermandois. Soon after, in consequence of the 
shortness of provisions, the Normans for a while left France, 
and threw themselves upon the eastern coast of England. The 
war against the King of Moravia and Bavaria proved more 
hazardous and destructive to Arnulph than that of the Nor- 
mans. To protect the empire from the incursions of the bar- 
barians, and, by the union of Bohemia with Moravia, to form 
a rampart against their invasions, he had conferred that duchy 
upon the Slavonic king of Moravia. This proceeding, however, 
only served to inflate with pride, and increase the importance 
of the pagan sovereign. Zventibold soon refused to carry out 
any of the stipulated conditions with Arnulph, and actually 
invaded the German dominions. Arnulph, too weak to compel 
his withdrawal (according to some), invited the aid of the 
fierce and warlike Huns, who had come down from the banks 
of the Wolga, and settled in the plains of Transylvania and 
Moldavia. Zventibold was speedily compelled to acknowledge 
the supremacy of Arnulph. Moravia was dismembered ; Silesia, 
105 p 3 



a.d. 899—911.] louis iv. [§ 21. 

and the territory formerly occupied by the Bulgares (part 
of modern Austria), were detached from it, and added to a 
portion of the Thracian territory, thus forming the kingdom of 
Hungary. Arnulph made two campaigns into Italy : the first 
was undertaken in favour of Berenger, the king of Italy, whose 
cause was espoused by Arnulph against Guido, the duke of 
Spoleto, who also contended for the sovereignty. Arnulph, to 
the surprise of both, seized the kingdom for himself. During 
his second campaign, he procured from the pope (Formosus) 
the imperial crown, and was acknowledged emperor. He also 
made a fruitless attempt to secure the crown of Lombardy for 
one of his sons. On the death of Arnulph (899), the great 
vassals of the empire endeavoured to divide the kingdom into 
a number of petty independent states, and thus to augment 
their own power and greatness. To this, however, the ecclesi- 
astical nobility were opposed, as, by such an arrangement, 
they would be placed in a condition inferior to the temporal 
nobility. A union Avas therefore effected, and Louis, the son 
of Arnulph, now only seven years of age, was chosen, under 
the guardianship of two nobles, one belonging to each order. 

2) L o u i s the Child (900 — 9 11). Under the regency 
of the Archbishop of Mentz and the Duke of Saxony the power 
of the nobles became consolidated, and rose superior to that of 
the monarch. The anarchy and confusion which ensued 
(chiefly through the quarrels between the Count of Bamberg 
and the Bishop of Wtirtzburg) proved more detrimental to the 
empire than the foreign invasions of the savage Hungarians, 
who, after having completed the subjugation of the Moravian 
kingdom (the bulwark of Germany towards the east), invaded 
Carinthia, wasted Bavaria, and even penetrated (through 
Bohemia) into Saxony, where they utterly vanquished the army 
of Louis, on the Ems (907). The Hungarians next plundered 
all the provinces, until they arrived in Allemania (Suabia) 
(910), which they overran, as likewise Franconia (910), even to 
the shores of the Baltic, where they laid the city of Bremen in 
ashes. On their return to their own country, they themselves 
became the prey of the restless pagan Poles, who penetrated 
Moravia, even to the Ehine. The royal domains received 
during this reign a vast accession in the confiscated lands of 
the Count of Bamberg, who not only refused to attend the 
diet, when summoned to appear, but openly defied the monarch 
himself. Louis rv. died, 911. 
106 











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A.D. 911—19.] CONRAD I. [§ 22. 

§22. 

EMPIRE OF THE EASTERN FRANKS UNDER CONRAD I., 
OF FRANCONIA, 911—918. 

At the period of the extinction of the Carlovingian race in 
Germany, on the death of Louis, the authority of the dukes, 
within their respective territories, was perfectly sovereign. 
There were the nations of the Franks, the Saxons, the Bava- 
rians, the Allernanians (Suabians), and the Lotharingians, each 
of which probably had its duke. From one or other of these 
powerful nobles the sovereign was to be elected, and as the 
Franks were first in dignity, and their ancestors had founded 
the empire, the place of election was fixed within their terri- 
tories, the Archbishop of Mentz regulating the proceedings. 
At the present election there were two who stood forth more 
prominently than the rest — namely, Otho, the illustrious, but 
aged, duke of the Saxons, and Conrad, count (duke?) of 
the Saxons, the grandson of Arnulph, and nephew of Louis. 
The suffrages fell on Otho, but he generously declined the 
dignity, and voted for Conrad, who proved worthy of the 
elevation to which he was raised. In less than a year after 
his election, Otho of Saxony died, and Conrad endeavoured 
to reduce the possessions of that vast duchy. This pro- 
ceeding led to a war, and Henry, the son and successor of 
Otho, defied the imperial forces, and retained his fiefs. Against 
the representatives (intendants) of the duchy of Allemania, 
Bavaria, Lotharingia, Conrad was more successful. The 
activity, energy, and bravery of the king compelled to a great 
extent the submission of the German feudatories (princes); 
but no sooner had he withdrawn with his army from their 
territories than they revolted, and threw off the allegiance 
again. During these internal dissensions, the Huns again 
invaded the kingdom, and overran Allemania (Suabia), 
Lotharingia, and Saxony. Conrad had several times opposed 
the savage Hungarians with success, but at length was mor- 
tally wounded in attempting to drive them out of Bavaria 
(919), where they had leagued with Arnulph against him. 
Before his death, he entreated his friends and relatives to waive 
their own personal interests, and elect the powerful Duke 
Henry of Saxony, who received from Eberhard, the brother 
and successor (to the dukedom) of Conrad, the ensigns of 
108 



§ 23.] GERMAN EMPIRE HENRY I. [919 26 A.D. 

royalty. The election of Henry was sanctioned by the Franks 
and the Saxons. 

§ 23. 

THE GERMAN EMPIRE UNDER THE KINGS OF THE 
HOUSE OF SAXONY, 919—1024. 

1. Henry i. (the Fowler), 919—936. 

The efforts of Henry were first directed to the more per- 
manent establishment of the royal power, by effecting a nnion 
with the Germanic princes. For this purpose he demanded a 
meeting with Arnulph, who, after mnch opposition, consented 
to hold the powerful duchy of Bavaria as a fief. For this he 
was rewarded with the government of Nordgau and Eastern 
Franconia. The next object to attain was the restoration of 
Lotharingia, and the security of the northern and eastern 
frontiers of the empire against the incursions of their for- 
midable enemies, the Normans, Sclavonians, and Hungarians. 

By the subjection of the dukes of Allemania and Bavaria, 
all the Germans on the eastern bank of the Rhine were 
consolidated into one common empire or elective monarchy; 
and by the grant of certain privileges to Giselbert, duke of 
Lotharingia, that province was also added, and constituted a 
fifth duchy of the empire, with which it remained incor- 
porated until the eighteenth century. In 926, the Hun- 
garians again invaded the empire, and ravaged a portion of 
Saxony, when one of their mightiest chiefs fell into the hands 
of Henry, the Saxon duke. A truce of nine years was made 
the condition of his liberation, and probably the payment of 
the same amount of tribute as the predecessors of Henry had 
formerly paid to them as the price of their forbearance. 

The interval was employed in improving the military 
discipline of the people, the erection of fortresses, or 
castles, and fortified towns, granting extensive privileges to the 
inhabitants, for whose sustenance immense magazines were 
founded, in which was preserved one-third of the produce of 
the rural population around them. These were first erected 
in the territory immediately subject to Henry, but afterwards 
considerably extended. Among the first in Saxony and Thu- 
ringia were Mersebm-g, Quedlingberg, Goslar, etc. Henry also 
partially restored the heerban by the establishment of a sort of 
standing army, or militia, composed of the eldest sons of fami- 
109 



A.D. 936.] HENRY I. — OTEO I. [§ 23. 

lies, who were supported out of the patrimonial inheritance. 
A light cavalry was also instituted for resisting the aggressions 
of the mounted Hungarians. These troops he led against the 
Sclavish tribes, who had formerly been tributary to the empire, 
but had since joined the Hunnish confederation. The Havel- 
lians, or the Havel, were first subdued ; and their capital, 
Braniber (Brandenberg), being taken, the Altemark was 
founded (margraviate of Misnia). Henry next penetrated into 
Bohemia, where he subdued the Wendes, and compelled their 
duke to revive the homage which had ceased since the days of 
Arnulph. The German frontiers were extended to the coun- 
tries watered by the Oder ; further victories led to the founda- 
tion of the Saxon March. 

At the expiration of the nine years' truce, elevated by his 
successes against the Sclaves, Henry determined to resist the 
payment of the Hunnish tribute; in revenge for which they 
penetrated into the very heart of the empire, through the 
territories of the Wendes, and devastated the frontiers of 
Saxony and of Thuringia. They were, at length, however, 
signally defeated at Merseburg, and afterwards pursued to the 
very confines of their own land, where, they were henceforth 
compelled to remain. Austria, which had been in their hands 
since the time of the Carlovingian princes, was re-erected into 
a inarch (the margraviate of Austria), to serve as a protection 
against their future invasions. Henry, having subdued the 
Huns, proceeded to chastise the Norman Danes, who occupied 
the present duchy of Schleswig and the country on the Eyder. 
The Danish king was defeated, and compelled to submit to 
the evacuation of the territories which had constituted the 
old Carlovingian mark (Danawirk) which was between the 
Eyder and the Schlee, now erected into the margraviate of 
Schleswig. 

All the enemies of the empire being subdued, Henry seems to have 
contemplated the reunion of Italy with Grermany, and thus of re-estab- 
lishing the empire, and receiving the imperial diadem. His death, 
however, which occurred in 936, prevented its accomplishment. 

2. Otho i. (the Great), 936—973. 

Otho was the eldest son of Henry the Fowler, and had been 
nominated by his father as his successor. This, nomination, 
however, unless confirmed by a majority of the five elective 
princes of the empire, assembled for the purpose, was by no 
means conclusive. On this occasion, the dignity, which had 
110 



§ 28.] WARS OF OTHO I. [951 A.D. 

before been only partially elective, was made so in the strictest 
possible sense, and was exercised with great pomp and solem- 
nity. Formerly the place of election had been Mentz ; it was 
now, however, changed to Achen, the former residence of 
Charlemagne. The three sons of Henry were competitors for 
the sovereignty ; but the choice fell upon Otho, who was 
crowned, after much contention for the privilege, by the Arch- 
bishop of Mentz. 

Otho was scarcely crowned, when the Danes, Sclavonians, 
and Hungarians rose in rebellion, and endeavoured to regain 
their lost territories; but the most formidable difficulties of 
the emperor arose from the turbulence of his great feudatories, 
who endeavoured to render their duchies hereditary, that they 
might not any longer depend on the installation of the sove- 
reign. Some of the principal rebels met with a premature 
death. To strengthen his interests he continued to draw the 
fiefs of Suabia, Bavaria, and Lotharingia into the possession 
of his own family; Saxony and Thuringia he retained for 
himself, and did not appoint a successor to his own duchy 
(which no sovereign on his election was allowed to maintain, 
neither to add to) until his second Italian campaign. After 
Otho had triumphed over his rebellious nobles, he turned his 
arms against his foreign enemies (the Danes and Sclavonians), 
in the subjection of whom he was equally successful, and for 
whose conversion he made ample provision, by the foundation 
of the bishoprics of Havelberg and Brandenburg, Schleswig 
and Holstein. 

Foreign Wars of Otho i. 

1) The Danes, who had invaded the margraviate of 
Schleswig (restored by Henry I.), and had killed the mar- 
grave and dispersed the Saxon colonists, were repulsed by 
Otho, who advanced into Jutland, and compelled its king to 
acknowledge the German supremacy. For their conversion 
to Christianity, the bishoprics of Schleswig, Eipe, and Aarhus 
were established, and placed under the jurisdiction of the 
archbishop of Hamanberg (Hamburg). 

2) First Italian Campaign (951). — Italy, since 
the death of Arnulph, had been separated from the empire, the 
sovereignty of which was contended for by the dukes of 
Friuli, Spoleto, and Upper Burgundy (comp. § 25). On the 
sudden death of Lothaire, probably by the instrumentality of 
Berenger of Ivrea, he seized the dignity, and, to unite all 

111 



A.D. 951 61.] WARS OF OTHO I. [§ 23. 

parties, endeavoured to compel the queen to marry his son 
Adelbert. In her distress she applied to the Emperor Otho for 
assistance, which was promptly afforded. Otho advanced into 
Italy with an army (951), seized Pavia, and several other 
cities. Having released the queen from her imprisonment, 
and driven Berenger out of Italy and Lombardy, he married 
his protegee, the queen, and caused himself to be crowned 
king of Italy. In the following year, after considerable nego- 
tiation, Berenger obtained from Otho the kingdom of Italy, as 
a vassalage of the German empire, with the exception of the 
marches of Aquileia, Verona, etc., which were bestowed upon 
the Duke of Bavaria. 

The reunion of Italy and Germany was fatal for the latter, in con- 
sequence of the wars which afterwards took place, by which the flower 
of the G-erman soldiery was cut off either by famine or pestilential fevers. 
It also brought the emperors into frequent collisions with the popes, 
which were too often settled by an appeal to arms ; while the climate 
destroyed the successions of many noble G-erman families, and led also 
to the premature death of some of the emperors. This gave rise to 
regencies (Otho n. and Henry VI.), and tended to the extinction of the 
reigning dynasty (Otho III. and Lothaire). 

3) Hungarian War.— In 955, the Hungarians ad- 
vanced into the provinces of Bavaria and Allemania (Suabia), 
with one of the largest armies which ever invaded the German 
states, consisting of 100,000 men. Otho met them near 
Augsburg, in the Lechfeld (plain of the Lech), the scene 
of their former triumph, and totally vanquished them. By 
this conquest, France, Germany, and Italy, were ever after 
preserved from their formidable incursions. In the -same year, 
a decisive blow was struck against the Sclavonians, the prin- 
cipal races of whom had combined to throw off their allegiance 
to the empire. Otho also subdued the Sclavish barbarians to 
the east as far as the Vistula (965); and the first duke of the 
Poles, Mieczislaus I., nominally acknowledged the supremacy 
of the emperor, who founded for their instruction in the 
doctrines of Christianity the first Polish bishopric, that of 
Posen. 

4) Otho's Roman Expedition (961 — 965). — Incon- 
sequence of the complaints which pope John xn., and some 
of the Italian nobility, had made to Otho against Berenger and 
his son, he proceeded with his army into Italy. Berenger, too 
feeble to offer resistance in the open field, shut himself up in 
the fortresses of the great cities. Pavia and Milan, however, 

112 



§ 23.] WARS OF OTHO I. [961 8. A.D. 

fell into the emperor's hands, when he caused himself to be 
crowned king of Italy, and pursued his journey until he made 
his public entry into Rome itself, where the pope gave him a 
brilliant reception, and invested him with the imperial dignity, 
which had lain dormant for upwards of thirty-eight years. 
This revived title of Emperor of the West 
continued to be borne by the German sovereigns until the 
dissolution of the empire in 1806. 

In the following year (962), Otho besieged St. Leon, where 
Berenger and his queen had taken refuge. While carrying 
on the siege, Otho, informed of the immoralities of the pope, 
remonstrated with the pontiff, who broke off his union with 
the emperor, and joined Adelbert, the son of Berenger, against 
him. Otho, however, proved too powerful, and marched to- 
wards Rome with his victorious army, when the pope, with 
Adelbert, fled from the city. Otho, having assembled the 
clergy and the people, exacted from them an oath that, hence- 
forward, they would elect no pope without his consent, and 
that of the emperors, his successors. Pope John xn. was 
then deposed, and Leo vm. elected in his stead. The former, 
with the rebellious vassal Berenger, long endeavoured to re- 
gain the papal seat ; but Leo was maintained in it in spite of 
all his opponents. In 964, Berenger, after the fall of St. Leon, 
fell into the hands of the conqueror, who exiled him to Bam- 
berg, where he died; Adelbert took refuge in the court of 
Constantinople. 

5) His Third Italian Campaign (966— 972) was 
undertaken for the purpose of confirming pope John xin. in 
the papacy, against the efforts of the deposed pope John xn. 
and his party, which was yet very powerful. John was assas- 
sinated by an Italian, whose wife he had dishonoured ; while a 
famine breaking out at the same time, compelled an uncondi- 
tional surrender on the part of the Romans. John xru., who 
had returned to Italy, was reinstated by Otho, who also pro- 
cured the coronation of his son Otho (n.) as his imperial 
successor. The sovereignty of the Western Empire being 
thus secured to his family, Otho sought to strengthen his 
influence by an alliance with the Greek emperor, in con- 
nection with whom he made war against the Saracens of 
Sicily, the last and most formidable enemies of Christendom. 
But the designs of Otho on Lower Italy severed the con- 
nection between them, and it was not until after a war of two 
113 



a.d. 973—79.] otho n. [§ 23. 

years in Apuleia and Calabria, that a treaty of peace, the 
terms of which are not known, was entered into, and the son 
of Otho received the hand of Theophania, daughter of Nice- 
phorus, in marriage, who also made over to the emperor the 
imperial rights of the whole of Lower Italy, with the excep- 
tion of Benevento and Capua. From this period the kings 
elected by the Germans became kings of Italy and emperors, 
and received the triple crown of Germany, Italy, and Rome. 
The title of emperor, however, was not assumed until after a 
formal coronation had taken place at Rome, when the pope 
placed the imperial diadem on the head of the German sove- 
reign. 

Otho i. died 973, bequeathing his extensive empire to his son. 
It consisted of Germany ; Lotharingia, which was divided into 
two duchies, namely, the Upper and Lower Lorraines; Upper 
and Central Italy, which was immediately dependent upon the 
empire ; the great duchy of Bohemia ; Poland (nominally de- 
pendent) ; and the Lombardian duchies of Lower Italy, as well 
as the princes of the Sclavonians on the shores of the Baltic. 

3. Otho ii., 973—983. 

War with France . — The reign of Otho was trouble- 
some ; his first campaign was directed against the Danes and 
the Sclavonian tribes of Bohemia and Poland. After many 
sanguinary engagements, he succeeded in securing the peace 
of the northern and eastern boundaries of the empire. Otho 
next subdued his vassal cousin Henry, duke of Bavaria, whom 
he imprisoned, and whose fief he conferred on his kinsman, 
the Duke of Suabia. In 978, Lothaire iv., the cousin of Otho, 
surprised him in the midst of peace, at his palace of Achen, 
and nearly made him a prisoner. He, however, with the Em- 
press Theophania, escaped to Cologne, and Lothaire, after 
ravaging the surrounding country for three days, retired. 
Otho determined to revenge the insult, and assembling an army 
of 60,000 men, he devastated the dioceses of Rheims, Laon, 
and Soissons, and afterwards proceeded to Paris, without en- 
countering any opposition. On his return to Germany, he was 
attacked by Lothaire at the passage of the Aisne, where a por- 
tion of his army was cut off ere it could ford the river. In 
the following year, Lothaire met Otho with considerable pre- 
sents, and signed with him a treaty of peace, which regulated 
the boundaries of the two dominions, and settled their respec- 
tive rights over Lorraine, 
114 



§ 23.] otho in. [980 a.d. 

War i 11 Lower Italy . — The provinces on the western 
frontiers being secured, and the peace of the empire having for 
some time been settled, Otho, in 980, entered Italy for the 
purpose of strengthening his hereditary possessions in Cala- 
bria, and of extending his dominion over the whole of the 
Peninsula. He invaded Apulia, took possession of Bari and 
Tarentum, and pursued his conquests in Calabria. The Greeks 
in their distress applied to the Saracens (Arabians) for assist- 
ance, which they obtained. By the victory of Squillace 
(Basantello), the emperor lost nearly all that he had gained, 
and narrowly escaped with his life. 

On his return to Lombardy, his infant son (Otho in.) was elected to 
the imperial dignity, and afterwards conveyed to Acken, that he might 
receive the crown of Germany. The rejoicings which took place, how- 
ever, were summarily terminated by the intelligence that all the Scla- 
vonian tribes had revolted, and returned to their pagan superstitions. 
At the same time, Saxony was overrun by the Danes, who, however, 
were reduced by the German princes. Otho sunk under the weight of 
these accumulated evils, and died at Rome, while fresh preparations 
were being made for another campaign against the Greeks and Saracens. 

4. Otho in., 983—1002. 

Otho in. was but three years old when his father died, and 
the empire was in a state of disorder. As soon as the death 
of Otho ii. was known, the dethroned Duke of Bavaria (Henry 
ii., surnamed the Quarrelsome) broke from his confinement; 
and having seized the prince, who was under the guardian- 
ship of the Empress Theophania, demanded the regency for 
himself. Being his cousin, Henry received the support of the 
Dukes of Bohemia and Poland, whom he persuaded to pro- 
claim him king. He was afterwards joined by Lothaire, the 
king of France, and the Sclavonians : hence a complete dis- 
solution of the empire seemed about to take place. At length 
a diet was held at Rohrheim, to settle the guardianship, when 
the defenders of the house of Saxony compelled Henry to 
restore the young prince to his mother, who was appointed 
regent; and in the event of her death, the regency was to pass, 
first into the hands of his grandmother, Adelheid (Adelaide), 
and then to his aunt, the Abbess Matilda. Henry recovering 
the duchy of Bavaria (without Carinthia), now became one of 
his cousin's most zealous defenders ; while Lothaire, to preserve 
peace, surrendered Verden, which he had seized, and set God- 
frid, the count of that city, whom he had imprisoned, at liberty. 

The internal peace of the empire being restored, and the 
115 



A.D. 100.] HENRY H. [§ 23. 

wars against the Sclavonians (which had been renewed every 
year) being determined by a great victory over the Obohites, 
when a treaty of peace was signed, Otho passed over into Italy, 
and received the imperial crown of Rome. Soon after, the 
Romans, headed by the Consul Crescentius, revolted, and en- 
deavoured to throw off the German supremacy, which led 
Otho back to Rome, when the consul was defeated and hanged. 
Tranquillity was now soon restored. In 1000, he made a pil- 
grimage to the shrine of the Bishop Adelbert of Gnesna, who 
had suffered as a martyr on the shores of the Baltic, whilst 
preaching the gospel to the pagans of Pomerania. On this 
occasion, the chapter of Gnesna was erected into an arch- 
bishopric, and the duchy of Poland into a kingdom. 

The dislike of Otho for the manners and customs of his 
native country (Germany) led him a third time into Italy, 
where it was probably his intention to transfer the capital of 
the empire from Achen to Rome. The Romans, however, who 
detested the German yoke, again revolted, and besieged the 
emperor in his palace, whence he narrowly escaped with his 
life. He died while preparing to revenge himself upon the 
rebels, in 1002, leaving the crown to Henry, the third duke of 
Bavaria, son of Henry the Quarrelsome, and grandson of the 
Emperor Henry I. of Germany. 

5. Henry n. (the Saint), 1002—1024. 

Henry, on his accession to the imperial dignity, began to make 
the tour of the empire, for the purpose of receiving the homage 
of his vassals, but had scarcely commenced his journey when he 
received intelligence that Harduin, the margrave of Ivrea, had 
been elected king of Italy, on the death of Otho. At the same 
period Boleslaus of Poland overran Bohemia, the duke of which 
struggled to grasp the province of Silesia, and to throw off the 
Polish vassalage, which Boleslaus, the Bohemian duke, had 
acknowledged. The Bohemians and Germans were repulsed, 
and the king and his son were made prisoners. Henry was 
engaged in Italy, during this time, against the usurper (Har- 
duin of Ivrea), whom he defeated. On his return, he received 
the iron crown of Lombardy; and during his stay, the great 
city of Pavia was laid in ashes, in consequence of a quarrel 
between the Pavians and his troops. Henry, and the German 
princes who had not joined the Polish king, alarmed at the 
progress of his arms, formed a confederacy to drive him out of 
Bohemia, and restore the lawful king. This, after some years, 
116 



§ 24.] CONRAD II. [1024 A.D. 

was effected; and Boleslaus was compelled to restore Bohemia, 
but allowed to retain Silesia as a fief of the empire. The 
boundaries of the empire on the east were now, for a time, 
secured. Italy being in a state of anarchy, in consequence of 
the revolt of Harduin, Benedict induced Henry, who had de- 
termined never again to visit Italy, to come to his aid. On 
his arrival, having settled the affairs of the country, and driven 
Harduin to take refuge in a monastery, the pope conferred 
upon him and his empress, Cunegund, the imperial crown. 
After the death of Harduin, no native prince ever attempted 
to contend with the German kings for the freedom of Italy. 
The third campaign of Henry, who first entered Italy on a 
pilgrimage to the cavern on Mount Gorgona, was carried on 
in Southern Italy, against the Saracens and Greeks. Having 
received considerable assistance from the Normans of Apulia, 
he gained the victory of Basantello, after which he assigned 
them more extensive territories and greater immunities, as a 
reward or payment. » 

§24. 

THE GERMAN EMPIRE UNDER THE ERANCONIAN 
EMPERORS, 1024—1125. 

1) Conrad n. (the Salic), 1024—1039. 

On the extinction of the Saxon line of emperors, a diet of 
election was convoked by the archbishop of Mentz, to take 
place in the vast plains on both banks of the Rhine, between 
Worms and Mayence (Mentz). The nations or tribes of the 
empire (each under its own duke) appeared in military array, 
under their respective banners. The Lorrainers and the 
Rhenish Franks were on the left bank of the Rhine; the 
Saxon, Suabian, Bohemian, Carinthian, and the Sclavish tribes 
were on the right. The choice of the chiefs, or great feuda- 
tories or dukes, with the higher clergy, who met on an island 
of the Rhine to deliberate, fell on two cousins — Conrad, duke 
of Franconia, and Conrad, duke of Carinthia. The former was 
voted for by the Archbishop of Mentz, and was immediately 
acknowledged by the rest of the clergy, the younger one also 
confirming the choice. The oath of allegiance was then admi- 
nistered to the people as they advanced, according to their 
respective ranks, of which there were six termed bucklers or 
shields (see § 14, ii.), when they dispersed. Conrad — having 
117 



A.D. 1037.] CONRAD H. [§ 24. 

passed, like his predecessor, through the various provinces of 
his empire, and received from the princes, who had not 
presented themselves at the diet, the oath of allegiance — was 
crowned at Milan king of Italy, with great pomp and external 
magnificence; Euclolph, the king of Burgundy, and Knut, the 
great monarch of Danemark and England, being present at 
the solemnity. For the former, Conrad obtained the promise 
of the throne of Burgundy, which had been guaranteed by 
his predecessor to Henry n. ; and from the latter (Knut), he 
obtained the hand of his daughter for his son, in consideration 
of which, the march of Schleswig, now no longer required as 
barrier against the incursions of the Normans, was ceded to 
Canute, so that the Eyder again became the northern boundary 
of the German empire. On the death of Rudolph of Burgundy, 
Count Eudes of Champagne claimed heirship to the states, 
and took possession of several fortresses; but when Conrad 
appeared, the Burgundian assembly elected him without 
opposition, and he was saluted under the title of king. Conrad 
pursued the count, and laid siege to St. Michel, on the Meuse 
(probably taken?), when the count renounced all claims to 
Burgundy, and acknowledged the right of Conrad. In 1034, 
Eudes again disturbed the peace of the empire, having been 
joined by Burchard of Lyons, and some other powerful, but 
disaffected, lords, who refused to submit to the empire. Conrad 
on his arrival held his court at Geneva, and was assisted by 
the Archbishop of Milan, who headed the Italian army. Count 
Eudes was again defeated, and Burchard was banished the 
empire. In uniting the kingdom of Burgundy to that of 
Lotharingia (Lorraine), already acquired, Conrad was not only 
master of all Germany and Italy, but obtained a preponderance 
of France itself. In 1037, Italy was nearly lost to the empire, 
in consequence of the insolent and haughty conduct of the 
Archbishop of Milan, whom Conrad had arrested and impri- 
soned; having escaped, that prelate sought an alliance with 
Eudes, to whom the crown of Lombardy was offered. The 
Milanese now armed in defence of their primate. Eudes, how- 
ever, was surprised on his road to Champagne to raise a more 
numerous army, and after a terrible conflict with the Duke of 1 
Lower Lorraine (vassal to Conrad), near Bar-le-duc, the : 
Champagnese army was cut to pieces. He was found dead on 
the field by his wife, Ermengarde. Milan, however, yet stood 
out. Conrad, who was in Apulia, whither he had been invited 
118 



§ 24.] HENRY III. 

to cleanse the papal court, now under pope Benedict ix., a 
boy of ten years of age, who neither commanded respect nor 
obedience, determined to advance into Burgundy itself. His 
army perished by disease in the Apulian plains, where he had 
unhappily tarried too long. He, therefore, accompanied by 
a few, entered Transjuran Burgundy, where he held an assem- 
bly of the states of the kingdom, and occupied three days in 
passing laws for the regulation of the kingdom. It was here 
probably that Conrad adopted the new regulations with respect 
to fiefs, which passed over into Italy, and extended ultimately 
into Germany and France. By these laws, the independence 
of the vavassors was secured, so that not only was the fief of 
the great feudatory, or vassal, held immediately from the king 
hereditary, but that of the vavassor — the man who held a 
smaller fief from some intermediate lord, or subordinate free- 
holder, under him. This system of hereditary feudalism, to a 
considerable extent, broke the power of the nobles, and served 
to strengthen that of royalty. Conrad, after witnessing with 
joy the coronation of his son in the church of St. Stephen of 
Saleur (the chapel of the Burgundian kings), departed for 
the purpose of surveying his provinces in the low countries, 
where he died, at Utrecht, 1039. 

2) Henry in., 1039—1056. 

Henry, in all things, endeavoured to follow in the footsteps 
of the late emperor, his father. His first efforts were directed 
to the consolidation of the family influence, and to bring the 
whole of the duchies under the immediate control of the crown. 
The ducal fiefs of Bavaria and Suabia had been* presented to 
him by his father. Franconia he regarded as his patrimonial 
inheritance, and the Duchy of Carinthia he left for a long time 
vacant ; so that he ruled immediately over the whole of the south 
of Germany. Besides these, there were the two kingdoms of 
Burgundy and Italy. Only Saxony and Lotharingia, and the two 
Sclavonic duchies of Bohemia and Poland, were ruled by dukes 
of their own. On the expulsion of Peter, king of Hungary, 
from his dominions, by the usurper, Samuel (Aba), Henry 
embraced his cause, and having subdued Samuel, secured the 
possession of parts of Pannonia and Noricum (formerly belong- 
ing to the empire), and placed Peter, the rightful owner, on 
the throne, who acknowledged the emperor as his feudal lord. 
The empire had now attained its utmost limits. It reached from 
the Rhone and Saone to the Aleuta and the Bug, and embraced 
119 



HENRY in. [§ 24. 

three kingdoms, six German duchies, and three Sclavonic. 
During the reign of Henry, The Truce of God was 
introduced into Germany, first preached under the title of the 
"Peace of God" (treuga Dei) in Aquitania. Its object, was 
to put an end to the private wars of the feudal nobility, whether 
carried on for the purposes of defence or revenge. It enjoined 
the suspension of hostilities from the setting of the sun on 
Wednesday night until its rise on the Monday morning. All 
fast days and days of religious solemnities, were included, 
while during the long fasts of Advent and of Lent, no work 
was allowed to be done towards the erection of new fortifica- 
tions, or the repairs of old ones, unless begun fourteen days 
before the commencement of the fast. Churches and ceme- 
teries were placed under the perpetual safeguard of the Truce, 
as well as implements of labour, the stacks of grain, and the 
cattle. For the further maintenance of peace, Henry conferred 
the southern duchies upon three of the most powerful feuda- 
tories, by which they became virtually sovereigns, and com- 
paratively independent of the crown. 

Having settled the peace of the empire on a firm basis, he 
made his entry into Italy, to correct the disorders of the church, 
arising out of the disgraceful lives of the popes and the inferior 
clergy, and the open and scandalous sale of the benefices 
(simony). Henry began with the head of the church : depos- 
ing three popes for simony who had been elected by rival 
parties, placed a German prelate (Clement n.) on the papal 
throne, by whom (after he had set aside a period for prayers 
and repentance) he was publicly crowned emperor. Henry 
on this occasion took from the people the right of elect- 
ing the popes, which they had shamefully abused, and enacted 
that henceforward no election of a pope should be considered 
valid until confirmed by the emperors. The laws made by 
Henry for the regulation of the clergy whom he himself 
appointed were, however, only carried out during his reign. 
Hildebrand (the son of a carpenter, but a man of distinguished 
talents) effectually neutralized the efforts of the emperor, and, 
as chancellor of the papal see, used all his influence to wrest 
the church from the grasp of the secular power. Henry died 
at the early age of thirty-nine, having gained the respect of all 
Europe for his zeal for justice, his valour, and his piety. 
Before his death, he named his son (Henry iv.) as his suc- 
cessor, who was recognised without opposition. 
120 



§ 24.] HENRY IV. [1056—1106 A.D. 

3) Henry iv. 1056—1106. 

a) Government under his guardians. 

The administration of the empire, and the education of the 
youthful monarch, now only six years of age, were assigned to 
his mother, Agnes, and the German crown seemed destined 
speedily to become hereditary rather than elective ; nor were 
the people altogether enamoured of the prospect. That the 
descent of the dignity to the sons of the two last and most 
powerful monarchs of the house of Saxony had not been 
opposed, was owing to their personal character, not to any 
change in the princijDles of the constitution. But now that 
the sovereign was a minor, and the regency in the hands of a 
woman, dissatisfaction, which had long been suppressed, broke 
out with considerable fury. The Saxons, who detested the 
house of Franconia, and considered that the sovereign should 
again be elected from themselves, espoused the cause of a 
rival candidate. They were, however, for a time subdued ; and 
fortresses, strongly garrisoned, were erected among them to 
keep them in check ; while to secure the favour of their duke 
(Otho of Nordheim), the duchy of Bavaria was presented to 
him as a fief. To insure the support of the Dukes of Carinthia 
and Alemannia (Suabia), in the south, those fiefs were made 
hereditary ; but these concessions would not suffice. The con- 
duct of Henry's ministers excited the utmost contempt, and at 
length a formidable conspiracy was organized, headed by the 
Archbishop of Cologne (Hanno), who decoyed the young prince 
from his mother, at Kaiserswuth, and bore him off to Cologne, 
usurping the regency for himself. Shortly after Hanno was 
compelled to admit the Archbishop of Bremen to share the 
authority with him; and eventually the influence of the latter 
triumphed over that of Hanno : and he caused the king to be 
armed, and declared of full age, so that nominally the guar- 
dianship ceased. Adelbert, however, continued to retain 
the administration in his own hands, while he allowed the 
youthful king to indulge unrestrained in all the excesses and 
follies of the age. At length the envy of the Archbishop of 
Cologne, the rival of Adelbert, and that of the Archbishop of 
Mentz, was excited, and, supported by Otho of Bavaria and the 
Saxons, a diet was convoked at Tribut, when they demanded 
from Henry, either the dismissal of his minister, or the resig- 
nation of his crown. Adelbert was dismissed and banished, 
121 a 



A.D. 1073 5.] HENBY IV. [§ 24. 

and his cathedral of Bremen was openly plundered by the 
Saxons, who exultingly stripped it of all its valuables. 
Within three years, Adelbert again appeared at court, and 
eventually regained his wonted ascendency over his enemies. 
Henry's conduct towards Saxony at length aroused the indig- 
nation of Otho of Bavaria, the former duke of that people, 
and the standard of revolt was again raised. Otho, at last, 
was deposed and imprisoned, and his dukedom given to his 
son-in-law, Guelph, or Welf, the ancestor of the still remaining 
branch of that house. Magnus, the son of the Duke of 
Saxony, and the brother of Otho, was also in prison, and 
should have succeeded his father in the duchy of Saxony, 
but Henry wished to retain it as a fief of the empire; Magnus, 
however, would not resign his claims; while to secure it, a 
number of fortified castles were again erected to keep the 
Saxons in check. 

b) War with the Saxons, 1073—1075. 

Henry had married an Italian princess, and to obtain a 
divorce from her, he offered the tithes of Thuringia to the 
Archbishop of Mentz to plead his cause. Hanno consented, 
but the Thuringians refused to yield, never having yet paid 
them. About the same time the Saxon territories were 
overrun by the freebooters placed by the king in the Saxon' 
fortresses, who committed the most disgraceful excesses, both 
upon persons and property. Remonstrances had proved fruit- 
less, and an appeal to arms was resolved upon, in which they 
were seconded by the Thuringians, and also by Otho, the 
Bavarian duke, whom Henry had deposed. Sixty thousand 
Saxons approached Goslar towards the Harzburg, and the 
result was that Henry was compelled to enter into a treaty of 
peace (at Gerstungen, on the Werra), to abandon the Thuringian 
tithe, to demolish the Saxon fortresses, to restore Duke Otho 
to his duchy, and to set at liberty Magnus, the son of the Duke 
of Saxony, whom he had imprisoned. These advantages served 
only to increase the insolence of the Saxons, who destroyed the 
Harzburg. This roused the indignation of the princes of 
Upper Germany and the provinces on the Rhine, who leagued 
with the king against them, and totally broke their power by 
the victory of Hohenburga, on the Hunshutt. The Saxon 
nobles submitted to the king on condition that their titles and 
possessions should be reserved to them; but Henry, whose 
122 



§ 24] GREGORY VII. [1073 — 5 A.D. 

vengeance was not yet satisfied, imprisoned them, and ordered 
the fortresses which had been destroyed to be rebuilt. The 
Saxons in their distress appealed to the pope. 

c) Conflict between Gregory vn. and the 
German Princes, 1073—1085. 

Hildebrand (of Soana, in Tuscany), during the period he 
filled the offices, first, of subdeacon, then of archdeacon, to five 
successive popes, had been gradually paving the way for the 
advancement of the ecclesiastical over the secular power. In 
1059, he obtained of the council held in the church of St. 
John Lateran the passing of the following resolutions : — That 
the election of the popes should be vested in the cardinals ; and 
the nomination of all prelates in the chapters jointly with the 
popes. To separate the clergy from society at large, he for- 
bade the marriage of priests, which, till then, had been per- 
mitted, and even sanctioned by some of the provincial councils, 
especially those of Lombardy. All power was, he said, vested 
in the poj^e, who, as an unerring man by virtue of his election, 
could alone make and depose bishops, convoke and dissolve 
councils. He was above all secular power, not amenable even 
to princes, whom he could depose at will, and whose subjects 
he could at any time release from their allegiance. 

To carry out this immense revolution, Hildebrand saw the 
necessity, at least for a while, of obtaining the assistance of 
the secular power, and therefore engaged the valiant Normans 
on his side. Henry was forced to retreat, and the pope, from 
motives of gratitude, conferred the title of duke on Kobert 
Guiscard, the Norman adventurer, who had succeeded his 
brother in the counties of Apulia and Calabria, held as fiefs, 
and, under certain conditions, the island of Sicily was also 
awarded to him on its being subjected. In return for these 
splendid gifts, the Normans were to afford protection to the 
pope and the cardinals against any power that might be 
brought against them. In 1073, Hildebrand became pope, 
under the name of Gregory vn., when he completely emanci- 
pated the church from the power of the state. In a council 
held at Eome (1074), laws interdicting the marriage of the 
priests and against simony, carried on to an enormous extent 
by the sovereign as well as the feudal nobility, were passed ; 
and, in 1075, another council was held, when a law pro- 
hibiting bishops and abbots from receiving investiture 
(investing with the ring and staff) from the hands of the 
123 g 2 



A.D. 1076—80.] HENRY IV. GREGORY VII. [§ 24. 

temporal sovereign was passed, and enforced by the excom- 
munication of some of the ministers of Henry for simony; 
but Henry took no notice of these proceedings, and con- 
tinued to bestow bishoprics and abbacies as before. This, 
and the complaints of the Saxons, with whom he had violated 
his oath and imprisoned their nobles, led to his being sum- 
moned to defend himself before a synod at Eome (1076). 
The emperor, enraged at their proceedings, instantly convoked 
a diet at Worms, which was attended by upwards of twenty- 
six bishops, besides the nobles. At this assembly, Gregory 
vii. was deposed, and the fact made known to him at Rome. 
On its receipt, the pope issued a sentence of excommunication 
against the emperor, and absolved his subjects from their 
allegiance. This bold step of the pope produced its desired 
effect; the disaffected nobles were glad to be released from 
their obligations and their duty. At the earnest entreaty of 
Henry, the election was deferred for twelve months, on con- 
dition of his procuring absolution. Henry crossed the Alps, 
and hastened to the pope, who then resided with the famous 
Countess Matilda, whose husband had separated from her to 
follow the emperor against the pope. On his arrival at her 
castle at Canopa, he was compelled to do penance in one of 
the outer courts, for three days and nights, in the depth of 
winter, clad only in a woollen shirt and barefooted. Henry 
agreed to submit himself to a tribunal composed of the Ger- 
man nobility, and to exercise none of the functions of royalty 
until re-elected by the diet of the empire : but he soon regretted 
the steps he had taken, by which he had disgusted his friends 
and rendered himself despicable in the eyes of all the sove- 
reigns of Europe; he therefore resolved to take up arms. 
During his absence, the nobles, under the superintendence of 
the papal legate, had chosen his brother-in-law, Rudolph, duke 
of Suabia, in his room; who, in accordance with the wishes 
of the legate, had engaged to resign the right of presentation 
to the vacant bishoprics, and, to gratify the nobles, that of the 
hereditary descent of the crown. Between Rudolph and Henry, 
the latter of whom was supported by the nobles and clergy of 
Lombardy, there were two undecisive engagements fought, the 
successes of both being equal. Rudolph's election was con- 
firmed by the pope, and Henry was again excommunicated. 
He, in his turn, deposed the pope, and elected the Archbishop 
of Ravenna (Clement in.) to the papal chair. The war now 
124 



§ 24.] HENRY IV. REBELLION OF HIS SONS. [1080 1101. 

raged throughout the empire; and in a third engagement, at 
Walkshein, in Thuringia (1080), Eudolph was slain by the 
renowned Godfrey (of Bouillon?) Precisely on the same day 
the troops of the Countess Matilda were defeated in Mantua 
by the generals of the emperor. Henry conferred the fief of 
Eudolph (Suabia) upon Frederic, the founder of the cele- 
brated house of HohenstaufFen, and committed to him the 
conduct of affairs in Germany, while he passed over into Italy, 
there to decide by force of arms the dispute between him and 
the pope. The talent and courage of Eobert Guiscard were 
exercised in favour of the latter, but the Normans could not 
successfully resist the heroic bravery of Henry, who penetrated 
as far as Eome, and compelled the Eomans to accept his anti- 
pope, Clement in., who placed the imperial diadem on the 
head of the emperor on the 31st of March, 1085. On the 
approach of Henry, Gregory had fled in despair to the castle 
of St. Angelo; from which place, Eobert the Norman (who 
set fire to the city, reducing more than half of it to ashes) 
conveyed him to Salerno, where he died, 1085. Before his 
death, Gregory had again fulminated another sentence of ex- 
communication against Henry, during whose absence from 
Germany, the Saxons and Suabians had elected Count Her- 
mann of Luxemburg emperor, who acknowledged 
himself a vassal of the pope, and took the oath accordingly. 
After a turbulent and unquiet reign of seven years, during 
which he obtained one victory over Henry, at the Bleichfeld, 
near Wurtzbug (1086), he resigned the crown. 

d) The Eebellion of the sons of Henry IV. 
against their father. 

Intolerant as was the conduct of Gregory, it led him no 
farther than to set up rival emperors, and to excite intestine 
wars against his opponents ; but the policy of his successors 
went so far as to arm sons against their own father. Instigated 
by Pope Urban h. and his adherents, Conrad, the eldest son 
of Henry (invested with royal dignity in 1087), assumed the 
crown of Italy, in which country his father had left him as 
his representative. A diet of German princes, assembled at 
Cologne, declared him in consequence ineligible to the crown 
of Germany, which was secured to his younger brother, 
Henry v., who engaged at his coronation not to usurp the 
government during the lifetime of his father. This promise 
was, however, soon broken. Conrad, the king of Italy, died 
125 



A.D. 1101—1111.]' HENRY V. [§ 24. 

1101, when the new pope, Pascal n., entered into negotiations 
with the second son of Henry to incite him to revolt, as his 

predecessor had done with Conrad. The pope having absolved 
him from the oath taken at his coronation, and pronounced a 
blessing on his arms, he made his father prisoner, and, at an 
assembly held at Ingelheim, threatened him with instant death 
if he refused to abdicate the throne. Henry, after some time, 
contrived to escape from the grasp of his son, and fled to Lor- 
raine, where, at Louvaine, he was surrounded by a few faithful 
adherents; new troubles, however, burst upon him, and he 
died broken hearted at Liege, 1106. Three years after (the 
sentence of excommunication having been reversed) he was 
disinterred, and conveyed with great pomp to the cathedral 
church of Spires, 1111. 

4) Henry v., 1106—1125. 

Henry, on his accession to power, endeavoured to restore 
the royal authority to its former greatness, 
and for this purpose assumed the supremacy over the Bohe- 
mian kingdom, which had been long neglected. His next 
object was to bring to a close the disputes between him- 
self and the pope respecting investiture. In a 
council, however, held at Troyes, Pope Pascal u. renewed 
the declarations, and prohibited ecclesiastics, of whatever 
grade, to perform any homage to a layman. Henry's repre- 
sentatives appealed to a general council, but their appeal was 
disregarded; and Henry crossed the Alps with a large army, 
to obtain by force, what could not be gained by argument. 
Pascal, however, ere Henry reached Rome, sent a deputation 
with proposals to resign the temporal dignities with which the 
church had been invested by successive monarchs, and to be 
content with the tithes and donations derived from private 
bounty. " Only," said he, " let Henry renounce the right 
of investiture by the emperor (the right of filling up the 
vacancies), and the church will restore all that it has received 
from secular princes since the time of Charlemagne." * This 
was opposed by the German bishops, and on the Romans 
taking up arms, the pope was seized and treated with great 

* "Whether these arrangements were entered into or ratified is uncer- 
tain. According to some, Henry agreed to renounce the right of inves- 
titure, provided Pascal compelled the ecclesiastics to surrender the 
feudal possessions, jurisdictions, and honours which they had at any 
time received from the crown. 
126 



§ 24.] HENRY V. [1118—22 A.D. 

indignity, and acting under the influence of fear, lie gave up 
the point, and yielded the right to Henry, whom he crowned 
emperor, and swore never to excommunicate. Henry returned 
to Germany in triumph, but the struggle was, as yet, only 
begun. The cardinals and bishops remonstrated against the 
proceedings, and held a council, at which Pascal explained 
the transactions which had taken place between him and the 
emperor, and offered to resign the popedom. The council, how- 
ever, reversed the papal bull, and solemnly excommunicated 
the emperor, a sentence which was confirmed by many of the 
clergy of Germany and France. At this period, the Saxons, 
and some of the German princes, rose up against Henry, 
prompted by the German prelates in the interest of the popes. 
The Count Palatine of the Rhine and the Duke of Suabia, 
however, remained faithful to him, as likewise did his nephew 
Conrad (just created duke of Franconia). With these, Henry 
sustained the conflict against his superior vassals, and after- 
wards crossed the Alps into Italy, once more to wreak his 
vengeance on the pope, who fled at his approach, and died 
shortly after (1118). He was succeeded by Gelasius n., who 
was obliged to take refuge in the Campagna, whilst Henry 
endeavoured to seat a Spanish prelate (Burdino, archbishop of 
Braga) upon the papal throne, who took the name of Gregory 
vm. Gelasius died in exile, 1119. The cardinals who had 
accompanied the late pope, elected Guido, bishop of Vienna, 
as his successor, under the name of Calixtus n. Henry, 
during this period, reigned dominant over Italy, with the 
anti-pope Gregory vni. ; but in the spring of 1120, Calixtus 
advanced into Italy from Gaul, and was received with acclama- 
tions by the Romans. Gregory fled to Sutri, where he was 
pursued by Calixtus, into whose hands he fell. After being 
exposed to the outrages of the Eomans, he was consigned to a 
dungeon. At length, however, fatigued and worn out by the 
continual revolts of the great feudatories in Germany, Henry 
sought an accommodation. A compromise was effected at 
Worms, in September, 1122, and ratified soon after at Rome by 
the pope himself, who anew admitted Henry and his adherents 
to the communion, and removed all anathemas pronounced 
against them. By this concordat, Henry renounced the right 
of investiture with the ring and staff, and agreed to restore 
the ecclesiastical property which he had sequestrated, and re- 
tained the sceptre, or the right of investing the person 
127 



CHANGES IN THE CONSTITUTION. [§ 24. 

chosen with the temporal power attached to the church, while 
the election of bishops and abbots was to take place i n h i s 
presence. In the event of a dispute, the question was 
to be decided by the emperor, the archbishops and bishops 



Changes in the Constitution during the 
reigns of the Saxon and Franconian Em- 
perors. 

1) The Monarchy. — With the extinction of the Carlovingian 
line, the division of the empire equally among the sons disappears, and 
the states become partly of an hereditary, and partly of an elective 
character. Until the reign of Henry iv., the heir was always selected 
from the reigning family while one remained, and this selection was 
approved and confirmed by the feudatories of the empire. Subsequently, 
this election, and oftentimes also the coronation, took place during the 
lifetime of the reigning monarch : hence there was a danger of the mon- 
archy becoming altogether hereditary in one family. The extinction of 
a dynasty, however, prevented this. In such cases, elections were 
solemnly resorted to ; and during the reign of Henry iv., the elective 
principle was visibly manifested by the great feudatories. The limits 
of the royal power do not seem to have been fixed by any law, but 
rather to have been greater or less in its amount according to the wealth 
and dignity of the family, or, as in the cases of Conrad n. and Henry 
ill., the personal character of the sovereign. 

2) The Dukes, under Charlemagne, were restricted to the duty of 
commanding the army, or leading the people out to war (anciently their 
sole prerogative). This authority was augmented under his successors, 
who united with the military command the civil jurisdiction, and 
became the ministers of the legislative powers, which they were bound 
to administer according to the strict letter of the law ; and when, under 
the successors of Charlemagne, the missi dominici were not sent, they 
exercised the functions of that office also ; while at the same time they 
sat as the representatives of the king in the legal courts and in the 
public assemblies. This so increased their power, that at length it be- 
came dangerous to the monarchy, while its influence in the election of 
the sovereign was all but paramount. This was, however, somewhat 
compensated for by the liberties granted to the inhabitants of towns and 
cities, in which were erected communities, or corporate bodies, which, 
as they were indebted to the crown for their privileges, were naturally 
inclined to the sovereign, from whom alone then* powers were obtained : 
hence they served not only as a counterpoise in the general assemblies 
to the power of the secular and ecclesiastical nobles, but were also 
the medium of furnishing supplies to meet the exigencies of the state. 
The ducal dignity was, in some of the provinces, elective, as in Aleman- 
nia and Lotharingia, but not in Franconia (nor in Saxony, since the 
time of Charlemagne) ; it was, however, generally allowed to remain in 
the family. 

3) The dignity of Royal or Palatine Count (Comitatus 

128 



§ 25.] BERENGER I. [887 91 A.D. 

terrce), which, during the Merovingian and Carlovingian periods, was 
one of great importance. To the count belonged the exercise of the 
supreme authority, either in the smaller districts, or over entire pro- 
vinces. Before them appeared the appellants from the ducal courts, 
and their decision was final. In matters of great importance, there was, 
however, the right of appeal to the emperor. This office or dignity dis- 
appeared during the Carlovingian period, but was revived in the tenth 
century {Comitates fisci), when it appears divested of its high judicial 
character, and is almost restricted to the protecting of the revenues or 
regalias of the sovereign, and the oversight of the (fiscus) collectors of 
the royal dues or taxes ; the supplies of the exchequer. This dignity, 
in many instances, was in the gift of the sovereign ; in others it was 
hereditary. 

4) The Counts (Comites), under the Franconian emperors, were 
made hereditary ; they exercised judicial power over their own vassals, 
but not, by any means, to the same extent as the counts royal or pala- 
tine, or the counts fiscal; neither had they any seats in the general 
diets (excepting that of election), only in the provincial states. 

§ 25. 
ITALY, 887—1125. 

A. The Kingdom of Italy, 

Which embraced Upper and Central Italy, was ruled 1) 
by kings of its own until 961. For during the reign 
of Arnulf, when the disputes between the dukes of Friuli and 
Spoleto broke out, his authority over Italy lasted only so long 
as he remained with his army in the kingdom ; and this was 
the case with all the foreign kings of Italy, until the reign of 
Otho i., who, in 961, reunited it with Germany. At the same 
time, Upper Italy was wasted by the Hungarians — sometimes 
tlie allies of the Franks, at others, of the Italians ; while Lower 
Italy, and portions of Central Italy, fell a prey to the Arabians 
and the Normans, etc. 

Berenger I. (887 — 924), Duke of Friuli, was proclaimed king of 
Italy, 887, and emperor, in 915. The reign of Berenger was disturbed 
by no less than four anti-kings. Gruido of Spoleto, and his son, were 
both crowned by Pope Stephen v., 891. On their death, Louis, son 
of Boson, king of Provence, entered Italy with a large army, and ad- 
vanced as far as Borne, where he was crowned by Pope Benedict iv. 
Berenger, however, compelled him to evacuate Italy ; and afterwards, 
on his making a second invasion, seized his person, and put out his eyes. 
After he had reigned well for sixteen years, the turbulent and fickle 
nobles of Italy, headed by the Archbishop of Milan, offered the crown 
to Rudolph II., the fourth rival of Berenger, who, aware of the treason, 
engaged the Hungarians as his allies, and attacked them in the moun- 
tains of Brescia. They, however, proceeded until they arrived at Pavia, 
129 a 3 



924 — 61.] GERMAN KINGS OF ITALY. [§ 25. 

where Rudolph, received the iron crown of Lombardy. Berenger assem- 
bled his army in the duchy of Friuli and Verona, but the final battle 
was fought at Firenzuola, where Rudolph was defeated. Boniface, the 
brother-in-law of Rudolph, however, meethig the fatigued conquerors 
on then* return, fell upon them by surprise, and entirely routed them. 
Berenger fled, and soon after fell by the hand of an assassin, whom he 
had loaded with favours. Rudolph now united the two crowns of Lom- 
bardy and Italy. In 924, Italy became a prey to the Huns ; Pavia, the 
capital, was reduced to ashes. They were, at length, while suffering 
from pestilence and famine, vanquished by the united efforts of Rudolph 
and Hugues, or Eudes, the Count of Provence. After this, Eudes be- 
came the rival of Rudolph, and was urged on in his ambitious designs 
by the Archbishop of Milan. He entered Pavia, and was crowned 
(927 ?) king of Lombardy. No general action, however, took place, but 
a compromise was entered into. Eudes resigned his ancient heritage 
(Burgundy) to receive Italy, and divided it into two counties, Yienne 
and Aries. The former he bestowed on Boson, the third brother of 
Rudolph ; while Aries, or Transjuran Burgundy, was presented to 
Rudolph in exchange for Italy. To induce Rudolph not to obey the 
call of the Italians, who again called upon him to be their king, Pro- 
vence was ceded to him : thus the new kingdom of Aries was founded 
(930). In 937 Rudolph died, deeply regretted by his subjects, after a 
short reign of seven years. Eudes associated with him in the government 
his son Lothaire, and had much difficulty in retaining it against the con- 
tinual revolts of the powerful nobles. At length, a powerful party was 
raised against him by the Margrave of Ivrea, who espoused the cause of 
Berenger n., grandson of Berenger I. Eudes was driven to his 
county of Provence, and Lothaire soon after died from poison (?). 
Adelaide, the widow of Lothaire, appealed to Otho, the king of Ger- 
many, who married the widowed queen, and allowed Berenger to hold 
Italy as a fief. In 961, Otho seized the crown for himself, and placed 
Berenger in a fortress in Germany, where he died. 

2) Italy was also ruled by German kings (subse- 
quently to 961), who remained in undisturbed possession, with 
the exception of the futile attempt of Henry n., the Margrave 
of Ivrea, to regain the crown (see § 23, 5). 

Since the time of Otho I., Italy appears to have been split into a 
number of ecclesiastical and secular, or spiritual and temporal fiefs- 
duchies, marquisates, viscounties, etc. In order to check the growing 
power of the great feudatories, the Emperor Conrad, in the new consti- 
tution which he propounded on the plains of Roncaglia (1038), made the 
lesser, or inferior fiefs, hereditary, and determined that, henceforward, 
every man should enjoy the privilege of being tried by his equals 
(peers). 

On the decline of the imperial authority, during the disputes 
between the emperors Henry iv. and v. and the pontifical 
authorities, the Lombardian cities threw off the jurisdiction of 
130 



§ 25.] VENICE PAPAL ITALY. |_452 1115 A.D. 

the imperial governors (lieutenants), and formed themselves 
into republics, under consuls and magistrates of their own. 
The emperor, however, still retained the title of king of 
Italy. 

B. Venice. 

From the invasion of Attila, in 452, the marshes (Lagunes) 
at the extremity of the Adriatic had been the refuge of all the 
rich inhabitants of Padua, Vicenza, Verona, and other great 
cities of Venetia; so that, at length, a numerous population 
was gathered there. They were, at first, governed by tribunes 
under the Roman empire ; afterwards they fell under the power 
of the Eastern, or Ostrogoths; and, lastly, became the subjects 
of the Eastern Roman Empire. In 697, the citizens of the 
various small republics which had arisen amongst them, met 
together in one great assembly at Heraclea, and elected a chief, 
whom they called Doge, or duke, who acted as lieutenant 
under the emperor of Constantinople, still regarding themselves 
as members of the Eastern empire. During the war against 
Pepin, they made choice of the island Rialto, upon which they 
built the city of Venice, the capital of their republic. Being 
connected by bridges with the other islands, it became the 
centre of a mighty maritime republic, which, by its conquests 
in Dalmatia about the year 1000, considerably extended its 
dominions, while by means of its extensive commerce, favoured 
by its position betAveen the two most powerful states of Europe, 
it soon rose to be one of the most important of the Italian 
states, and eventually the greatest maritime power of the world. 

C. Papal Italy, or the Ecclesiastical States. 

The foundation of the temporal power of the pope was laid 
by Pepin (see § 20), who compelled Astolphus of Lombardy 
to restore the exarchate of Ravenna (the provinces of Romagna 
and Urbino), not to the Greek empire (to which they belonged), 
but to the pope. These possessions, which were also increased 
by grants of territory hi Tuscia and on the other side of the 
Tiber, resigned by the Duke of Benevento, were subsequently 
confirmed to the pope by Charlemagne. To these were after- 
wards granted by Henry ni. to Leo rx., in lieu of the revenues 
of several of the Franconian churches, the city of Benevento, 
with the surrounding lands. A still more important accession, 
however, was obtained (in 1115), when the margravine, Ma- 
131 



A.D. 1000 1090.] LOWER ITALY NORMANS. [§ 25. 

tilda of Tuscany, the friend of Hildebrand (Gregory vii.), gave 
to the church all her allodes, embracing one-half of the pro- 
vince of Tuscia. Apulia and Calabria were held as fiefs from 
the pope by the Normans, who also paid a large yearly tribute 
for the Island of Sicily. 

D. Lower Italy. 

In the eleventh century, the whole of Lower Italy fell into 
the hands of the Normans, who, at first, visited the Italian 
peninsula as pilgrims to the cave on Mount Gorgona. In 
return for some military service they rendered to the Romans 
against the Greeks, they received payment in lands on the 
western coast, which they colonised. The Duke of Naples 
erected for them the town of Aversa. Here they were after- 
wards joined by the twelve sons of Tancred de Hauteville 
of Normandy, and other adventurers, who were employed 
by the Greeks against the Saracens of Sicily. Dissatisfied 
with the division of the spoils, they resolved to indemnify 
themselves by making reprisals in the Italian territories. 
They therefore invaded Apulia, and in three years wrested 
nearly the whole of it from the Greek empire, and divided it 
into twelve counties, which were placed under the control of 
the Count of Apulia, who held his court at Melfi. After 
several contests with the Romans, in 1053, the papal troops 
were vanquished, and Pope Nicholas n. was taken prisoner; 
his release was only obtained by bestowing on them their 
present and future conquests in Apulia and Calabria, as a fief 
of the papal see (a relation still retained by the kingdom of 
Naples). In 1060, on the death of Humphrey, the last count of 
Apulia, the title of duke was conferred upon Robert Guiscard 
by the pope, and Sicily (to be hereafter subdued) was also 
included in the dignity. Twenty years, however, were spent 
in warfare before the whole of Apulia and Calabria were in 
his possession ; and thirty years were actively occupied against 
the Saracens of Sicily, by Roger, the last of the twelve bro- 
thers, before that island was subdued. This was accomplished 
in 1090, when he ruled over it under the title of great 
count, and allowed the Saracens to retain their religion and 
their property, unmolested. The ambition of Guiscard, and 
the restless character of his soldiers, led him to seek further 
conquests ; and under the pretext of re-establishing Michael, 
the Greek emperor (whose son had married the daughter 
132 



§ 25.] the islands. [1084—1139, 850 a.d. 

of Robert), on his throne, assembled a large army, and 
laid siege to Durazzo, which was taken by treachery after a 
valiant defence. Guiscard advanced into Thessaly; but on 
hearing that the cities of Apulia were in revolt, and that the 
German emperor (Henry v.) was advancing into Lower Italy, 
he left the command of the army to Bohemund, and passed 
over to Apulia. Bohemund being betrayed and forsaken by 
the counts, was forced to return to his father. Meanwhile 
Henry v. had entered Rome, and Gregory was besieged in the 
Vatican. Guiscard hasted to assist the pontiff in his distress, 
and compelled the Germans to retire, when Gregory was 
liberated. In 1084, Guiscard again prepared to attack the 
Eastern empire; and, by evading the combined fleets of the 
Greeks and Venetians sailing off the coast of Greece, landed 
his army safely in Epirus. Two naval engagements took place 
between the Normans and the Greek and Venetian fleets, to 
the advantage of the latter ; but in the third the Normans 
triumphed, and gained a complete victory. Guiscard died of 
an epidemic disease in Cephalenia, in his seventieth year, while 
making preparations for a renewal of the war in the ensuing 
spring. He was succeeded by his second son, Roger Bohemund, 
1085, who dying without issue, the duchy passed over to the 
great Count of Sicily, Roger n., the nephew of Robert Guis- 
card, who attached himself to the interests of the anti-pope 
Anacletus n., by whom he was invested with the royal dignity, 
and crowned at Palermo. On the death of the Emperor Lo- 
thaire, he dispossessed the Prince of Capua of his possessions, 
and subdued the duchy of Naples, 1139; thus completing the 
conquest of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. 

E. The Islands. 

Sicily was wrested from the Byzantine Greeks by the 
Arabians, or Saracens, who, in turn, were conquered by the 
Normans. Sardinia and Corsica fell into the hands 
of the Arabs, in 850, when the Greeks were driven out of pos- 
session. After the expulsion of the Arabs, they were possessed 
by the Genoese and Pisans, and became the cause of a fierce 
and sanguinary war between these two republics for upwards 
of two centuries. They were ruled over by a number of petty 
feudal lords, and were considered to belong to Italy, and con- 
sequently were deemed a portion of the Roman German 
empire. 

133 



[a.d. 887 — 98. chaeles iv. [§ 26. 

§ M. 

France, under the last of the Carlovin- 
gians, 887—987. 

As at the last division of the Franconian empire, the only 
.survivor of the Carlovingian races, Charles the Simple, was 
still a child, the nobles of the empire, sorely pressed upon by 
the piratical Normans, elected Count Eudes, or Otho, of Paris. 

1. Otho, Count of Paris (888 — 898), was not acknow- 
ledged by the Duke of Aquitania (Rainulf il), although he 
was crowned at Compiegne, and much esteemed for his per- 
sonal bravery; while his possessions, extending from the Meuse 
to the Loire, were great. He could not, however, resist the 
inroads of the Normans, who took possession of Meux, and 
descended the Loire, on the way to Paris. 

2. Charles iv. , usually called the Simple (896 — 
923). — Otho had subdued the Aquitanian duke, Gauzbert, and 
taken possession of the country south of the Loire, but during 
his absence on this expedition, Charles was presented to the 
Neustrians by the powerful Archbishop of Rheims, as their 
rightful sovereign (893). After the ceremony of consecra- 
tion, the partisans of the youthful monarch (fourteen years 
of age) put themselves in motion to contest the crown with 
Otho. No battle, however, took place ; an appeal was made to 
the German emperor, when Charles timidly absented himself, 
and Otho was confirmed in the kingdom. In 896, Otho granted 
to Charles the appanage of Neustria (?); but the former dying 
in 898, the grandees of Neustria offered the crown to Charles, 
then at Rheims, where he was a second time crowned. The 
complaints of the people against the Normans, who had devas- 
tated the country on the Seine, besieged Paris and Chartres, 
and massacred the inhabitants of numerous other towns, at 
length aroused Charles, who, however, did nothing to defend his 
people. Charles sent the Archbishop of Rouen to Rolla, the 
most formidable chief among the Normans, offering him a 
vast province of France as the price of peace, provided he 
embraced the Christian faith. Rolla (Robert), with many of 
his chiefs, and a large portion of his army, were baptized, 
lands were set apart for the church, and the whole of maritime 
Neustria and Brittany were divided among his officers and 
troops, and erected into counties. Thus was put to an end a 
war of devastation and brigandage, which had wasted the 

134 



§ 26.] ROBERT RUDOLPH LOUIS IV. [912 36 A.D. 

western coasts of France for upwards of a century. In 912, 
the Lorrainers, dissatisfied with being united to Germany, 
offered their crown to Charles, who accepted it, and so became 
opposed to Conrad I., king of Germany, his rival. From 913, 
Charles entirely abandoned himself to the counsels of a favourite 
of low birth, Haganon, whose conduct at length so disgusted 
the nobles of the kingdom, that they took up arms against 
him. Charles fled to Lorraine, being deserted by his partisans ; 
and Eobert, considering that the king had virtually abdicated, 
caused himself to be crowned in his stead, at St. Eemi (922). 

Robert, Count of Paris, and Duke of Francia, 
was the brother of the great Count Eudes, or Otho. On his 
accession to the crown, he sent an army in pursuit of Charles, 
who had taken refuge in Lorraine, when an armistice was 
agreed upon. Charles, however, soon violated it, and came 
suddenly upon Robert at Soissons, where he was slain (923), 
and was succeeded by his son-in-law. 

3. Rudolph (Raoul), Duke of Burgundy, after the 
defeat of Charles on the Oise, was placed on the throne 
by the interest of Hugues, the master of all the territory lying 
between the Seine and the Loire (duchy of France). After 
his coronation, the civil wars were put an end to by Heribert, 
the count of Vermandois, who got possession of the dethroned 
king, and imprisoned him at Chateau Thierri. Rudolph, 
however, subsequently procured his liberty, and gave him the 
palace of Attigny: he died twelvemonths after, at Peronne, 
929. The reign of Rudolph was marked by the civil wars 
which were maintained between the great feudatories; the 
inroads and aggressions of the Normans, which he frequently 
repulsed with loss; and the ravages of the Hungarians, in the 
king's duchy of Burgundy, against whom he was advancing 
when he died at Autun, 936. 

4. Louis iv. (beyond the sea, or the stranger — Outre 
Mer). — On the captivity of Charles the Simple, by the treachery 
of the Count of Vermandois, Odgiva, the queen, and daughter 
of Edward the Elder of England, fled to the latter country 
with her son Louis, then three years of age. On the death of 
Rudolph, Hugues, the most powerful lord of France, and 
who had also placed the crown on the head of the last 
monarch, caused Louis (now sixteen years of age) to return 
to France, when, with the assistance of William, the Duke of 
Normandy, and other lords, he was acknowledged king, and 

135 



937 — 87 a.d.] louis iv. — lothaire — louis v. [§ 26. 

crowned at Laon (Iris own domain), by the Archbishop of 
Rheims (937). Louis determined not to be the puppet of the 
Count Hugues: hence the latter conspired with Heribert, the 
Count of Vermandois, against him. After some inconsiderable 
engagements, the refractory nobles were compelled, for the 
present, to retire. In 939, the Lorrainers offered their crown 
to the young prince, who accepted it, and entered Alsatia. 
Otho, however, soon wrested it out of his hands, being assisted 
by the rebel counts of Paris and Vermandois. Louis was now 
hemmed in on all sides by his enemies ; and in the following 
year Otho the Great appeared in Lorraine, where he was 
acknowledged king of Komance France. At length a truce 
was agreed to between Otho and Louis, when the latter re- 
tired into Burgundy, where he was afterwards defeated by 
the Count of Vermandois and Hugues ; and Otho, desirous of 
re-establishing peace in the West, seconded the efforts of the 
papal legate, who had been despatched to France, by Stephen 
viii., for the purpose of excommunicating the rebel lords, unless 
they gave up the contest. Hugues and Heribert did homage 
to Charles for their counties, and peace was restored. Subse- 
quently Charles and Hugues endeavoured to recover Normandy, 
which they agreed to divide between them ; but were unsuc- 
cessful. The civil wars, which had so long desolated France, 
however, soon broke out again, and continued to trouble the 
remaining years of the reign of Louis, who was killed by his 
horse falling upon him, on his way to Eheims from Laon, 954. 
Lothaire (954), son of Louis, and nephew of Otho of 
Germany, a minor, succeeded to the crown under the auspices 
of the great Count of Paris, Hugues, who gained by his adhe- 
sion to the cause of the youthful monarch the duchy of 
Aquitania, in 956 died, and his county was inherited by 
Hugues, surnamed Capet. In 986 Lothaire died, and Louis 
V. (le Faineant — nihil fecit — the Idler), who had been asso- 
ciated with him in the government since 979, was crowned 
at Compiegne ; his uncle Charles, who had accepted of the 
duchy of Lorraine as a German fief, was excluded. After a 
reign of fourteen months (according to some), he was poisoned 
by his wife, Blanche, in the interest of the great Count of Paris, 
Hugues (Hugh Capet), and died 987. Charles, duke of Lor- 
raine, made an attempt to obtain the crown ; but Hugues had 
been already consecrated at Rheims. Louis v. was the last of 
the Carlovingian race. 
136 



§ 27.] THE FOUR CAPETIANS HUGH CAPET. [987 A.D. 

France, for a long time, had ceased to be a kingdom ; it was rather 
an assemblage of states of different sizes. The great lords were the only 
real sovereigns of France ; the whole territory was split into a number 
of countless fiefs, the larger of which were governed by dukes, marquises, 
and counts ; the smaller, by viscounts and lords. These were all more 
or less independent, and assumed the right of waging war either against 
the sovereign, or separately against each other, for the purposes of pri- 
vate interests. Even the domains of the crown were at length so 
usurped or detached from the possession of the sovereign, that during 
the period of the last Carlovingians the kings were reduced to great 
distress. Soissons, Laon, and a few petty domains, constituted all that 
the sovereign could properly be said to hold. 

The immediate fiefs of the crown, the possessors of which shared 
equally with the sovereign the authority or power of royalty, were the 
duchies of Francia (between the Seine and the Loire), Normandy, 
with Bretagne (Brittany), Aquitania, or Gruienne (with which 
subsequently the duchy of Grascogne (Gascony) was united) , and Bur- 
gundy; to these may be added the counties of Toulouse, Flanders, 
and the Vermandois (capital, St. Quentin). 

Independently of the territorial division of France during this period, 
there was another division founded on language. The inhabitants north 
of the Loire, the Grermans, preserved the ancient Teutonic, the lingua 
Franca, which was the.language of the court and government, while the 
Roman, or Romance, was spoken by the people south of the Loire : 
this, when polished by the refinements of the court, assumed, at length, 
a new and purer form, and, in process of time, became the parent of the 
modern French. The language north of the Loire was termed langue 
d'oil; that of the south, langue d'oc. The national character of the two 
people widely differed. The Frenchman of the north was daring and 
reckless, characterized by a fondness of display, pomp, and outward 
show ; while the southern Frenchman was more wily and cunning, but 
yet active and industrious, and more moderate in his desires. In the 
north, the territorial or feudal laws formed the basis of the constitution, 
■ — and in the south, the Roinan laws. 

§ 27. 
FRANCE, UNDER THE FIRST FOUR CAPETIANS. 

Hugh, Robert, Henry, and Philip, 987—1108. 

Hugh (Hugues) Capet (987) was duke of France, count 
of Paris and Orleans, and abbot of many rich abbeys; his 
brother was Duke of Burgundy, and his brother-in-law held 
the duchy of Normandy. On the rebellious conduct of Hugh 
Capet, in causing himself to be elected king, Charles of Lor- 
raine seized Laon and Rheims, from which Hugh could not 
by force of arms displace him. A conspiracy, headed by the 
Bishop of Laon, however, placed Charles and his nephew, the 
Archbishop of Rheims, in the king's hands, by whom they 
were imprisoned. Charles soon after died ; and the archbishop 
137 



A.D. 996 1080.] THE CAPETTAN MONARCHS. [§ 27. 

was restored, after a while, by command of the pope, to all his 
dignities. Hugh was engaged during nearly the whole of his 
reign in struggles with the church, while civil wars between 
the great feudatories raged throughout the kingdom. He died, 
probably at Paris, 996 (?), and was succeeded by his only son, 
Robert u., who, for the last eight years, had shared the 
government with his father, and been crowned as his suc- 
cessor. He was engaged in disputes with the church, in con- 
sequence of his marriage with Bertha, but after five years was 
compelled to yield and to marry another. In 1002, on the 
death of his uncle Henry, the duchy of Burgundy was nomi- 
nally added to the royal domains; but the feudal lords re- 
fused to acknowledge the authority of the king, until 1016, 
when they agreed to submit to his second son, Henry, who 
was acknowledged Duke of Burgundy, while his brother 
was elected count. Robert was almost an imbecile, without 
vigour and capacity, and chiefly employed himself in the 
composition and singing of psalms at St. Denis. He died 
1035, and his son Henry was crowned at Eheims. To secure 
peace between him and his brother Eobert, he. conferred upon 
the latter the duchy of Burgundy, as a fief, while to the Duke 
of Normandy the territory of the Vexin was ceded. To allow 
the pope no cause of spiritual war against him, Henry mar- 
ried a Russian princess (Anna). He was, notwithstanding, 
sufficiently engaged against the greater vassals, the Count 
of Champagne and the Duke of Normandy. During this 
reign the Treve de Dieu, or Truce of God, was established by 
the priesthood, by which a check was put to the unceasing 
warfare of the nobles. Henry died, 1060, and was succeeded 
by Philip i., who was only seven years of age when he 
commenced his reign. During his minority, he was placed 
under the guardianship of Baldwin, count of Flandria. The 
most memorable event of the reign of Philip is the conquest of 
Anglia (Engla-land) by the Duke of Normandy. 

During the reign of the first four Capetian nionarchs may be ob- 
served the revival of the monarchic principle ; at present, indeed, with- 
out authority or influence, which was in the hands of the vassals, but 
yet inspiring a deep reverence and respect. The greater feudatories, 
even when contending with the sovereign, considered it not only im- 
politic, but impious, to attack his suzerain, or liege lord ; and it not 
unfrequently happened that the wing or body of an army led by the 
sovereign was allowed to escape, unattacked and uninjured, when all 
the rest were either cut off or vanquished. 
138 



§ 28.] ALFRED THE GREAT. [827 871 A.D. 

§ 28. 

ENGLAND (ANGLE-LAND), UNDER THE WEST SAXON 
KINGS, 827—1016. 

All Britain was now subjected to the kings of Wessex and 
Mercia, between whom a fierce rivalry prevailed. Under 
Egbert of Wessex, Mercia was soon subdued ; the terrible 
battle of Ellandune (Wilton) decided the fate of the kingdom; 
Kent, Surrey, and Sussex soon acknowledged the authority of 
Egbert. In 823, East Anglia submitted. Egbert was now 
lord of all the states south of the Humber. He next proceeded 
against the Angles of Northumbria, who became his tribu- 
taries, as also did the Britons north of the Severn (the Welsh). 
Hence he now nominally united under one crown the whole of 
Britain. The government was, as yet, not concentrated; there 
was no common legislature ; each state and people remained as 
independent and as distinct as before. In 787, the Danes be- 
came the incessant and inveterate foes of the Britons; and 
during the last eleven years of Egbert's reign, attacked the 
western districts, where they gained a footing, and joined 
the Welsh of Cornwall. They were defeated by Egbert, who 
died 886, and was succeeded by Ethelwulf, the king of 
Kent, who for fifteen years was just able to keep the Danes in 
check. For the purpose of securing the crown to his son 
Alfred, he was sent to Rome, to which place, also, Ethelwulf 
soon after proceeded with presents. Alfred was anointed king 
by Pope Leo, 853 ; and Ethelwulf, on his return, married 
Judith, the daughter of Charles the Bald, king of the Franks, 
and died four years after. He was succeeded by Ethelbald, in. 
whose reign the Danes, or Northmen, attacked the kingdom of 
Northumbria, and seized the greater part of it, and penetrated 
into Mercia, and took the town of Snottingahame (Nottingham). 
The wars were continued with ruinous success until the acces- 
sion of the youngest son of Ethelwulf. 

Alfred the Great, 871—901. 

A 1 f r e d (probably king of the Britons in Wales ?) unwil- 
lingly accepted the royal dignity. At this period, the cormtry 
was in a state of extreme misery and devastation. The whole 
of England, as far as Wessex, and afterwards as far as Somerset, 
was in the hands of the Danes. Nine pitched battles were 
fought in one year. Mercia was entirely in their power, and a 
sort of predatory warfare was carried on in every part of the 
139 



A.D. 887 93.] ALFRED THE GREAT. [§ 28. 

island by the Northmen, or Danes, who, at length, under Hrolf, 
or Rollo, took their departure for France, where they were more 
successful even than in England, Rollo becoming the first duke 
of Normandy. In 887, the Danes made a sudden irruption into 
Wilts and the adjoining shires. Alfred, with his aged mother, 
sought shelter in the Isle of Athelney , a secluded spot, environed 
by marshes and moors : here he spent the winter in solitude. 
While Alfred was thus secluded, the men of Wessex gained a 
signal victory over the Danes, who attempted a landing on the 
Somerset coast ; the leaders were slain, and their followers 
routed. When the news of this victory reached Alfred in his 
retirement, he determined to profit by it ; and leaving his place 
of concealment, he disguised himself as a wandering minstrel, 
and stole into the Danish camp, thereby ascertaining its 
strength, and the position and number of its army, etc. 
Accompanied by the men of Somerset, he raised his standard 
on the borders of Selwood Forest, where he was joined by the 
inhabitants of Somerset, Dorset, and Hants. He met the Danes 
at Ethandune (near Westbury, Wilts ?). The Danes were 
completely vanquished, and compelled to flee to their entrench- 
ments, in which they were blockaded for fourteen days, and 
at length submitted to Alfred's terms. Guthrum, the king, 
embraced Christianity, and the Danes followed his example. 
Alfred ceded to them the territory known as the Danelagh, or 
Danelaw, embracing East Anglia, and a few cities of Mercia 
and Northumbria. 

Comparative peace being restored (for rebellions were fre- 
quent), Alfred employed himself in restoring and fortifying 
the dilapidated towns and cities, Lunduneberg (London) among 
the number, and the fortresses and castles, 883. In 893, a 
Danish squadron, consisting of 250 ships, appeared off the 
coast of Kent, while 80 more entered the Thames at Rother, 
where the troops were landed, and entrenchments erected for 
their protection. The Danes of North Umbria and East Anglia 
violated their oaths, and joined their kinsmen, who overran 
the country, and everywhere spread devastation. Alfred pur- 
sued them into Mercia, but the Danes completely distanced the 
armies of Alfred, and, after they had ravaged Wales, crossed 
the country again into Essex, and sailed round to the southern 
coasts, where Alfred, with his long ships, which he had built 
and officered by Frieslanders, pursued the Danish fleet, which 
was met cruising off the coast of Devonshire, and soon after 
140 



§ 29.] SUCCESSORS OF ALFRED CANUTE. [901 1016 A.D. 

dispersed. Two of the vessels being cast on shore, the crews 
were seized, and taken before the king, who ordered them all 
to be hanged, as a terror to the remainder. Alfred died on All 
Hallows Day, October 28th, 901. 

During the reign of Alfred, the building of vessels was much im- 
proved ; they were longer, steadier, and swifter than those of the enemy. 
He was, likewise, the founder of the naval force of Britain ; and under 
his direction, the cities and towns were much better fortified than before. 
The royal revenue was more exactly portioned, and at least one half 
distributed in acts of charity. The administration of justice was facili- 
tated by the adoption of a new code of laws founded upon the dooms, 
or judgments, of his predecessors. England was, during his reign, 
divided into counties, or shires, and hundreds ; trial by jury was intro- 
duced ; learned men were invited over into England ; schools were 
founded (probably the University of Oxford) in all parts of the country; 
education was forced, by the refusal of the king to promote the unedu- 
cated and ignorant ; while the king himself was also employed in the 
translation of Latin works into the vernacular tongue of his English 
subjects. 

The enterprises of the Normans were, for a time, directed 
against the kingdom of the Franks; but, in the meanwhile, 
the Danes left in England revolted, and were joined by fresh 
arrivals of their countrymen. The feeble successors of Alfred 
proved unable to resist their attacks. Three times was 
Ethelred compelled to purchase peace by the payment of 
an annual tribute of ten, sixteen, and twenty-four thousand 
pounds. This tax was termed Danegeld: the impost, however, 
only served to incite the Danes and Normans to the committal 
of fresh depredations. In 1002, the pope interposed, and pro- 
cured a pacification, and Ethelred married Emma, the sister of 
the Duke of Normandy, out of which circumstance subse- 
quently arose the Norman claims upon England. On the 
evening of the day following his marriage, Ethelred issued a 
cruel order for the massacre of the Danes throughout the 
island, November 13, 1002. This proceeding led to the com- 
plete conquest of the island by Sweyn, and his successor, 
Knut, or Canute. 

§ 29. 

ENGLAND, UNDEE DANISH KINGS, 1016—1042. 

Canute (Knut, 101G — 1035) was the most powerful 
monarch of his time. He was king of Denmark and England, 
and afterwards of Norway and Sweden, as also of part of 
141 



A.D. 1016 42.] DANISH KINGS-EDWARD THE CONFESSOE. [§.' 30. 

Scotland, and the kingdom of Cumbria and the Isles. On the 
death of Ethelred (1016), the citizens and Wiian elected Ed- 
mund Ironsides king in the place of his father, while Canute 
was elected by the Danes. After a short but sanguinary war, 
decided at Assingdune, Edmund challenged the Danish mon- 
arch to settle the dispute by single combat, when Canute 
declined, and agreed that they should divide the realm be- 
tween them. On the death of Edmund, Canute became sole 
monarch. In the government of th<d kingdom he divided it 
into four distinct provinces, namely, Wessex, thee hief state, 
governed by the sovereign ; East Anglia, Mercia, and North 
Umbria, governed by earls. The rights and property of the 
Anglo-Saxons were as secure as those of the Danes. The 
exercise of the Pagan religion of Scandinavia was forbidden to 
the latter, while pilgrimages to Borne, and the founding of 
abbeys and monasteries, were encouraged. The esteem and 
confidence of the Anglo-Saxons were, at length, won by 
Canute, who died at Shaftesbury, respected and lamented, 
1035, and was buried at Winchester. Canute intended his 
kingdom to be divided in the following manner: Britain to 
Harold, Denmark to Hardicanute, and Norway to Sweyn. 
The great Earl Godwin opposed this arrangement. After 
some disputes, the Witenagemot, or great council, elected 
Harold to reign over Mercia and North Umbria, while Wessex 
was reserved for Hardicanute of Denmark. After a short 
and inglorious reign, Harold expired, 1040, when the Danes 
as well as the English invited Hardicanute to return to 
Britain, and assume the crown. This he did, and so severely 
taxed his subjects, that money became scarce. Corn rose to 
an enormous price, and the clergy were obliged even to sell 
their chalices to meet the demands. After a short reign of 
two years, he expired in the midst of a revel at Clapa-hame 
(Clapham), 1042, and the crown again came into the hands 
of the Anglo-Saxons. 

§ 30. 

KESTOEATION AND EXTINCTION OF THE ANGLO- 
SAXON DYNASTY, 1042—1066. 

Edward (in.) the Atheling (the Confessor), 
only surviving son of Ethelred, had been invited over into 
England by Hardicanute. His recognition by the nobles was 
142 



§ 30.] EDWARD HI. SPAIN. [1042 52 A.D. 

chiefly owing to the influence of Godwin, earl of Wessex, who 
stipulated that Edward should marry his daughter, Editha the 
Fair, while he and his sons, who possessed the greater half of 
England, were to retain all their honours unmolested. Edward 
was completely swayed and governed by his Norman relatives ; 
and as he had, during his residence in Normandy, become 
attached to the manners and customs of that country, he in- 
troduced and adopted them in England. The Norman lan- 
guage and handwriting were thought preferable to the Anglo- 
Saxon; the sealing of documents was also introduced from 
France, and appended to the parchments, in addition to the 
sign of the cross. These innovations excited considerable dis- 
content ; but Edward allowed his great earls to govern as they 
pleased, until at last they conspired against him, when they 
were subdued and exiled; Editha, the queen, was consigned 
to a monastery. In 1052, Godwin and Harold appeared off 
the English coasts in their ships, and were welcomed by the 
men of the south-eastern counties. They proceeded up the 
Thames to London with their adherents, who assembled, 
together with the army of the king, on the Strand,* when a 
negotiation was entered into, and afterwards confirmed by the 
Witan. Godfrey and his sons obtained an acquittal, and the 
restoration of their earldoms. Soon after, Godwin was choked 
in the act of enunciating an oath while banqueting with the 
king at Windsor. Harold, his son, succeeded to his earldom. 
Edward died 1065, having bequeathed his crown by will to 
his cousin, "William of Normandy. Harold, conceiving him- 
self entitled to ^he sovereignty, opposed the claims of William, 
who, with 60,000 Normans, landed on the Sussex coast, in 
Pevensey Bay, near Hastings, where they were met by 
Harold and his brothers. After a terrible conflict, one of the 
most sanguinary on record, Harold and his brothers were slain, 
and the English completely routed. The great preponderance 
of numbers alone decided in favour of William, who 
now took possession of England, and was designated "the 
Conqueror." 

* " An open shore on the north of the river, immediately west of the 
city." 



143 



A.D. 998 1094.] MOHAMMEDAN SPAIN. [§ 31. 

§ 31. 
SPAIN. 

1. Arabian Spain (to 1087) was separated from the 
Christian states by the Duero, and under the Ommiade caliphs, 
or emirs, of Cordova (756 — 1028), enjoyed a splendid period 
of uninterrupted prosperity, especially during the reign of the 
enlightened conqueror of Mauritania, Abderrahaman n., which 
extended over fifty years, and that of his son, Alhakem n., 
who proved a worthy successor. During the governorship of 
Almanzor, the minister of Hixemii., the successor of Alhakem, 
the former possessions of the Moors in Spain were partially 
recovered. Leon and Barcelona fell ; Navarre and Pampeluna 
were besieged ; the troubles in Africa saved them. Almanzor 
hasted to quell the insurrection at Fez, which was added, as 
the province of Almagrab, to the Spanish caliphat. He was 
cut off in a battle against the Christians (998). 

Mohammedan Spain (the country south of the Duero — 
Douro), during this period, contained a population of from 
twenty-five to upwards of thirty millions, while there were 
above eighty first class cities, each of which had its schools 
and its scientific and literary academies. Cordova, the capital, 
had a population of more than a million of inhabitants, 600 
mosques, 60,000 public buildings, 80 public schools, and a 
university with a library of 600,000 volumes. The regal 
splendours of the court, and the magnificence of the royal 
palaces (Azzehra, with its 4,300 marble columns), seem to 
belong to the imaginary, rather than to the real. Agriculture, 
horticulture, mining, and the industrial and commercial arts 
(principally carried on with Constantinople), employed the 
vast population, which excelled in architecture and poetry, 
and cultivated, with great success, the sciences of astronomy, 
and astrology, chemistry, and medicine, and the mathematics. 
The schools of Cordova were filled by the Christians of the 
countries of the West, who resorted hither to attain a know- 
ledge of the sciences and liberal arts. 

The Moslems had, however, to struggle with the small, but 
formidable, kingdom of the Goths, in the mountains of Galicia, 
in the north, and with the Franks. At length, the viziers and 
governors of the principal cities and towns, taking advantage 
of the declining authority of the emirs, and the death of the 
144 



§ 31.] CHRISTIAN KINGDOMS. [940 — 1035 A.D. 

last Ommiade, erected petty independent governments in the 
various provinces. Before 1087, however, these, with the 
exception of Saragossa, were all subdued, either by the Chris- 
tian kings of Leon and Castile, etc., or by the Emperor of 
Morocco, Jusef, who crossed over to Spain from Africa, to 
assist Mohammed against the Christians under Alphonso iv. 
of Castile, who was defeated at Badajos. In 1094, Jusef 
finally annexed the Mohammedan states of Spain to his Afri- 
can dominions. 

2. Christian Kingdoms . — The kingdom of the As- 
turias (940) was founded by the Visigoths, who had been com- 
pelled by the Arabs to take refuge in the mountains of Galicia, 
in the north. Subsequently, when the Christians of Oviedo 
had subdued the Arabians, the capital was shifted to Leon, as 
being more central. Hence, it afterwards took the name of 
the kingdom of Leon, which it retained until its last king was 
slain while engaged in battle against the king of Castile. It 
was then united to the latter sovereignty, and received the title 
of the kingdom of Castile and Leon (1037). 

a.) The Spanish March, or the territory conquered 
by Charlemagne, and erected into a march, had been con- 
tracted by the inroads of the Arabs. It was under his feeble 
successors divided into a number of petty counties, or lord- 
ships, agreeably to the German custom. Several of these, as 
Pampeluna and Arragon, etc., appear to have united 
and formed themselves into larger counties, independent of the 
Franconian empire ; hereditary also, but acknowledging the 
kings of the Franks as their suzerains. The counties of 
Barcelona and of Navarre (864) were of this order. In 905, 
Sancho, the count of Pampeluna, took the title of king, with 
which he soon after incorporated Arragon, obtained by descent. 

Sancho the Great, king of Navarre (1000 — 1035), conquered several 
other counties belonging to the Spanish march, and obtained by his 
marriage with the heiress of Castile that county also. For upwards of 
a century, in consequence of his victories over the king of Leon, whom 
he reduced to a state of vassalage, he united the whole of Christian 
Spain (excepting the independent county of Barcelona) under his do- 
minion, which now extended from the Pyrenees to the Duero. Alphonso 
was just on the point of crushing the Mohammedan power in Spain (on 
the death of the last Ommiade emir), when death arrested him (1035), 
He left his kingdom to the Knights Templars, but the people elected 
two sovereigns for themselves. This division weakened and enfeebled 
the Christian power, and saved the Arabians, who maintained them- 
selves in the Peninsula for a period of 500 years. 
145 h 



a.d. 1074-1147, 753.] the abassides. [§ 32. 

Assassinations and civil wars at this period raged in all the 
Christian states, now divided into the kingdoms of Castile and 
Arragon, and the comity of Barcelona, or Catalonia. The 
princes of these three Christian states, Alphonso n. 
of Castile, Sancho I. oi Arragon, and Eaymond Berenger of 
Barcelona, at the end of the eleventh century, combined their 
forces for the purpose of putting an end to the Arabian power 
in Spain, and were on the point of success, having gained 
twenty-nine pitched battles over the Moors, when the Almora- 
vides of Africa, having been invited to assist them, drove back 
the Christian armies, but subjected their fellow-countrymen of 
Spain to the authority of the Emperor of Morocco. 

During this war, Valencia was, for a short time, in the possession of 
Kodrigo, or Kuy Diaz de Yivar, better known as the Cid, who, ungrate- 
fully treated by Alphonso, wrested it out of his hands, and erected it 
into a principality for himself (1074 — 1094). On his death, it was 
seized by the Moors. 

b) Portugal . — Among the allies of Alphonso vi. against 
the Moors, was the Count of Besancon, of Burgundy, who re- 
ceived, as the price of his service, Theresa, the daughter of 
Alphonso, in marriage, with all he then possessed of the pre- 
sent kingdom of Portugal, the County of Porto Calo, 
between the Tajo and the Minho, as an hereditary fief of the 
Castilian kingdom. This supremacy, however, was thrown 
off in 1112, when Theresa, the widowed countess of Henry, 
was vanquished, in an unnatural war raised by her own son, 
who kept her in prison until her death. In 1147, Alphonso 
Henrique was raised by the Cortes of Lamego to the imperial 
dignity, and Portugal became an independent kingdom. 

§ 32. 

THE ABABIANS TTKDEK THE ABASSIDES, 750—1258. 

Soon after the accession of the Abassides (753), Almanzur 
removed the seat of government from Damascus to the newly- 
built city of Baghdat, or Bagdad, situated on the western 
banks of the Tigris, and considerably extended his empire by 
his conquests over the Turcomans, and his victories over the 
Greeks in Asia Minor. His capital soon became the chief 
emporium of commerce, and the seat of the arts. In the reign 
of his son Mohcli, the celebrated Haroun al Baschid first 
appears, when, as the commander of the Mohammedan army, 
146 



§ 32.] THE ABASSIDES. [756 1074 A.D. 

he penetrated the Greek provinces of Asia Minor as far as 
the Hellespont. In 786, this young conqueror (the grandson 
of Almanzur) was called to the throne, and soon displayed an 
ardent love of justice and peace, and a zeal for literature and 
the arts equal to his valour as a commander. He opened a 
friendly communication with Charlemagne, and, during his 
reign, flourishing towns sprung up in every part of the empire, 
while Bagdad rivalled even Constantinople in magnificence 
and luxury. The reign of his son Mamun (the seventh 
Abassicle) forms an important epoch in the history of science 
and literature, the cultivation of which was conspicuously 
patronised by the caliph, as well as by the governors of the 
different provinces, who imitated his example. Mamun 
founded colleges and libraries in the principal towns of his 
kingdom, as Bagdad, Bussora, Kufa, Nishabur, etc. Syrian 
physicians, and Hindu mathematicians and astronomers, re- 
sided at his court, by whom works were composed and written 
for the instruction of his subjects. This period of prosperity, 
however, was brief. Spain, Fez, and Tunis had already been 
dismembered from the unwieldy empire. The Turks, who 
composed the body guard of the emperor, considerably in- 
creased their power, and elected their own commander; while 
the Greeks were invading the provinces in the north-west in 
Armenia. The decay of the Abbassidian empire consisted: — 
1. In the defection of the more distant, and then in the seces- 
sion of the nearer provinces, which, subsequently, the great 
emirs, or governors, erected into independent sovereignties for 
themselves. In Spain, there was the caliphat of the Om- 
miades, founded 756, in Cordova. In Africa, there were the 
kingdoms founded by the dynasties of the Aglabides, the 
Edrisides, the Fatimides, and the Morabethes ; while in Asia, 
the Bawaihides seized Persia and Irak, and the Seljuks, under 
Togul Beg, in 1074, seized the caliphat of Bagdad, and soon 
after subdued all the petty emirs governing in Upper Asia. 
Scarcely, however, had the Seljuks succeeded in establishing 
themselves in their mighty possessions, when they again ex- 
hibited signs of dissolution and decay. Iran (Persia), Kerman, 
Aleppo, Damascus, Iconium, or Rum, were all erected by their 
respective emirs into independent states. The Atabeks reigned 
in Aldeschira, and the Fatimides were masters of Egypt, 
Syria, and Palestine: these acknowledged only the spiritual 
supremacy of the sultan at Bagdad, to whom, at last, was left 
147 h2 



A.D. 936, ETC.] EUROPE DURING THE CRUSADES. [§ 33. 

only the town and its environs. 2. By the admission into 
Bagdad of the Turkish body guard, which eventually swelled 
its numbers to 50,000 men. These soon exercised an uncon- 
trolled influence in the state, and subsequently deposed and 
elected the caliphs according to their own pleasure. 3. By 
the cruel and oppressive conduct of iveak and luxurious 
governors, to whom the administration of the affairs of the 
provinces were left, and, since 936, to the arbitrary conduct of 
the Emirs al Omrah, or Commanders of Com- 
manders, an office intrusted to Turkish emirs, and whose 
powers were more extensive than those of the grand vizier; 
they even officiated in the grand mosque of Bagdad, instead of 
the caliph, who was at length stripped of all temporal power, 
and remained only grand Iman, or sovereign pontiff of the 
Mussulman faith. 

Third Period. 

The Period of the Crusades, 1096—1273. 

§ 33. 

GEOGEAPHICAL SUEYEY OP EUEOPE DUEING THE 

PEEIOD OP THE CEITSADES. 

1) Arabian Spain, with the Balearic Isles, first under 
the government of the Almoravides (Morabethes), who 
came over from Africa, and, after a duration of fifty years, 
were displaced by the dynasty of the Almohades, who also 
immigrated from Africa, and the Baleares, which they had 
first possessed themselves of. 

2) Christian Kingdoms in Spain, a) Leon 
separated again from b) Castile, which, by conquests over 
the Moors, and the tracts of territory wrested from the king- 
dom of Navarre, became an extensive and powerful kingdom, 
o) Navarre, which not only lost a portion of its posses- 
sions to Castile, but also d) Arragon, which was founded 
out of its territory, and united (by marriage) to Barcelona, 
and by conquest to Saragossa and Valencia, e) The County 
of Porto Calo (Portugal), which was first bestowed on 
Count Henry of Burgundy by Alphonso VI., and, at length, 
when it was extended by conquests over the Arabians as far as 
the Upper Tajo, was raised into a kingdom, and embraced the 
Algarves. 

148 



§ 33.] EUROPE DURING THE CRUSADES. [1096-1273 A.D. 

3) Of France . — The greater portion of this country 
belonged to foreign kings, namely, a) the whole of the western 
part, from the coasts on the Channel, as far as the Pyrenees, 
belonged to the monarchy of England (§ 39): b) the king- 
dom of Burgundy, or Aries (Arelat), belonged to the German 
emperors (see § 24): and c) the southern portion had, either 
by treaty, purchase, or marriage, come into the possession of 
the kings of Arragon. 

4) England, by conquest, obtained dominion over the 
eastern coasts of Ireland, southern Scotland (Cumberland and 
Northumberland), and South Wales. 

5) Scotlan d — kingdom of the Scots ; part lost to England. 

6) Ireland . — The eastern portion belonged to England ; 
the remaining portion ruled over by independent native princes. 

7) The Roman German Empire, which extended 
from the banks of the Rhone, as far as the shores of the Baltic 
Sea; and from the North Sea, over Italy and the islands on its 
coasts. 

8) Norway, extending to the White Sea, with its tribu- 
tary provinces Greenland, and the re-conquered King- 
dom of Man, including the Orkney Islands. 

9) Sweden, which, during this period, comprised the 
two kingdoms of Svoland and Gottland, which were lastingly 
united, and the conquests in Finnland. 

10) Denmark, to which South Sweden already belonged, 
attained its utmost limits when, in the thirteenth century, it 
obtained by conquest the principality of Rugen, Pomerania, 
Slavinia (Mecklenburg), Holstein, and the coasts of Esthland. 

11) Iceland, republic of (Danes). 

12) Poland, which embraced at the commencement of 
this period, Eastern Pommerania, Silesia, Moravia, and North- 
ern Hungary, by unsuccessful wars between the Piast princes 
lost all excepting Pomerellia and Silesia, besides Poland proper, 
which latter was divided into five principalities or duchies, 
under the sovereign. 

13) Prussia, under the Pagans. 

14) Russia, since Yaroslav, had been divided (1054) into 
six different principalities, subject to the authority of the 
Grand Duke of Kiov. Subsequently, in the west, the indepen- 
dent principality of Galitzia, or Russia (Halles), was formed. 

15) Hungary was considerably increased by the con- 
quest of Croatia, Dalmatia, and Bosnia. 

149 



THE CRUSADES. [§ 34. 

16) The Cum a ns, Uzes, or Polowzians, had taken pos- 
session of the territories of the Petchenegans in Southern Eussia. 

17) Servia was governed by native princes, chiefly sub- 
ject to Constantinople. 

18) A new Wallachian or Bulgarian King- 
dom, between the Danube and the Haemus Mountains, was 
founded, 1116. 

19) The Byzantine Empire retained in Asia Minor 
only the west and north-western portions, in consequence of 
the advance of the Seljukian Turks. 



§ 34. 
THE CEUSADES, 1096—1270. 

Christianity having diffused itself over the several provinces 
of the Roman empire, pilgrimages to the Holy Sepulchre began 
to take place. At length a magnificent church was erected on 
the supposed spot by Constantine the Great, who himself, in 
his later years, embraced the Christian faith. The number of 
the pilgrims, to whom a hospitable reception was given, con- 
siderably increased, so that the commerce of the East re- 
ceived an additional impulse, and was much augmented. At 
length, Jerusalem was conquered by the Arabs (630), who, to 
preserve the trade of the Syrian ports, encouraged rather than 
opposed the devotional spirit of the pilgrims ; but when the 
city came under the dominion of the Seljukian Turks, who 
were a barbarous and ferocious people, the pilgrims were sub- 
jected to every species of insult and oppression, and were 
compelled to pay a heavy tax for the exercise of the privilege. 
This, however, did not damp the ardour of the Christians of 
Western Europe, who continued to visit the holy shrine even 
in greater numbers than before. The lamentable accounts 
which the pilgrims, on their return to Europe, gave of the 
outrages to which they were exposed, excited general indigna- 
tion, and originated the idea of rendering Palestine again a 
Christian kingdom. 

This was an enterprise which united the whole body of Christians in 

Western Europe into one common bond, quite opposed to all which 

had yet been exhibited among them. There was nothing isolated, 

nothing selfish, — it was the sacrifice of all in the endeavour to effect a 

150 



§ 34.] THE CRUSADES. [1096 A.D. 

common object. As the first impulse originated with the church, so the 
church took care to possess itself of the greater share of the benefits 
derived from these undertakings. Its wealth was immensely augmented 
by the purchase, at a cheap rate, of secular dignities, and the here- 
ditary estates of the nobility and gentry, who were urged to take part 
in the enterprise. 

The First Crusade, 1096—1100. 

The complaints of the Eastern Christians reached Europe 
through Peter the Hermit (of Amiens), who, after his return 
from Jerusalem, traversed the whole of Italy, France, and 
Germany, preaching everywhere, and representing, in the 
liveliest colours, the cruelties and profanations of which he 
himself had been an eye-witness. His fanatical zeal found 
powerful supporters in Gregory vu. and Urban n., the latter 
of whom repaired to France, and convoked the Councils of 
Piacenza and Clermont, where he pathetically harangued the 
assemblies, who resolved on the Holy War. To encourage the 
multitude to enrol their names in the sacred militia, a full 
pardon was granted for sins past, and a plenary indulgence to 
sins for the future, with a final entrance into the kingdom of 
heaven. Henceforwards the pulpits of Europe echoed with 
exhortations to the crusades, and multitudes of every rank 
and condition assumed the sign of the cross on the right 
shoulder. 

Early in 1096, detached bands of crusaders from France, 
Italy, and Lorraine, set out for the Holy Land, and reached 
Hungary and Bulgaria, where, as they pillaged and destroyed 
the towns and cities through which they passed, they were, 
to the number of 200,000, cut to pieces by the enraged 
inhabitants. Peter the Hermit, in his vehicle drawn by 
asses, preceded by Walter the Penniless, surnamed Lord of 
Lack-land (Habernichts), and another body of adventurers 
(600,000 ?), however, reached Nicsea, where they were nearly 
annihilated by the Turks. To these unwarlike, undisciplined 
bands of marauders succeeded regular armies, commanded by 
powerful princes, as Godfrey de Bouillon, duke of 
Lower Lorraine (and his brothers Baldwin and Eustacius), the 
dukes of Normandy and Provence (the former the brother of 
the king of England), Count Eaymond of Toulouse, Bohe- 
mund, prince of Tarentum, and his nephew, Tancred (1096). 
The armies, under their respective leaders, took different 
routes. One division, under the French nobles, preferred the 
151 



A.D. 1096-9. J THE CRUSADES. [§ 34. 

route by Italy, and wintered at Bari, Brindisi, and Otranto; 
others, whose rendezvous was at Chalcedon, in Bithynia, pur- 
sued their way through Hungary. On their arrival at Con- 
stantinople, the emperor Alexius obliged them to yield their 
allegiance, and extorted from them a promise of restoration of 
all the lands they should conquer from the Mohammedans (once 
the territory of the empire). Nicasa was the first city they 
attacked : the Turks were repulsed, and the capital of Eoum 
fell into the hands of the crusaders. The fall of Doryleeum, in 
the Gorgonean valley, in Bithynia, opened the way to Syria, 
through the kingdom of Iconium. Scarcely had the strong 
city of Antioch fallen into their hands (by the treachery of 
Pyrrhus), after an immense sacrifice of human life, and a siege 
of nine months, when they were surrounded on all sides by a 
numerous Turkish army. The crusaders, shut up in the 
toAvn, endured the most extreme sufferings, arising from sick- 
ness and want of provisions. At length, by a dexterous 
movement on the part of a priest of Provence. Peter Bartholo- 
meus, who pretended to have discovered the head of the lance 
which pierced the Saviour's side, their courage was raised. 
The lance, borne on a pole, was carried before the army, and 
a desperate sally was made from the gates of the city. The 
Turks could not withstand the impetuosity of the crusaders, 
and were entirely routed, 1098. A Christian principality 
was established under Bohemund of Tarento (now prince of 
Antioch). In the meanwhile, Baldwin had taken Edessa, 
which had been erected into a county, having Baldwin for 
its head. Many of the crusaders remained in the towns 
of Antioch and Edessa, which they garrisoned ; a large num- 
ber had fallen in battle, while hundreds had perished by sick- 
ness and for want of provisions: hence not more than 20,000 
vigorous foot soldiers, and 1,500 horse, could be mustered to 
proceed to Jerusalem, which the Fatimide caliph of Egypt had 
just recovered from the Seljukian Turks (1095). The holy 
city sustained a siege of thirty-nine days, and after an assault 
of two days, the outer wall was broken down, and the inner 
walls were mounted, when the crusaders descended the ladders 
into the streets, and massacred, without mercy, men, women, 
and even infants. At least 70,000 were cruelly slaughtered, 
after which the conquerors " hastened to the Church of the 
Holy Sepulchre, to humble themselves before the Lord ! " 
Jerusalem fell on the 15th day of July, 1099, and Godfrey 
152 



§ 34.] THE CRUSADES. [1099-1142 A.D. 

of Bouillon was elected the first sovereign of Jerusalem 
and protector of the holy shrine ; but he refused to wear a 
crown of gold, or to assume the regal title, where the Saviour 
of men had worn one of thorns ; hence he retained the title of 
duke only. A dispute having arisen between Godfrey and 
Raymond, the latter took his departure for the countries of the 
Jordan, where he founded the County of T r i p o 1 i s . 

In less than a month after the conquest of the holy city, a 
large Egyptian army, despatched by the Fatimide caliph, 
under the vizier Afdal, made its appearance in Palestine. It 
was said to consist of 140,000 (?) men, 100,000 of which were 
horse. The armies met in the plain between Joppa and As- 
calon, where at least 30,000 Saracens were slain, and the rest , 
completely routed. Godfrey was not long spared to govern 
the newly established kingdom. In the year 1100, returning 
to Joppa, to receive the son of the Doge of Venice, who had 
just arrived, he was seized with an illness which speedily ter- 
minated his life. Godfrey was succeeded by his brother, 
Baldwin i., prince of Edessa, who did not hesitate to 
assume the imperial dignity, and was crowned at Bethlehem. 
Assisted by the republics of Italy (Genoa, Pisa, and Venice), 
Baldwin considerably extended the Christian kingdom, which 
at first only embraced Jerusalem, Joppa, and about twenty 
hamlets, but now included the maritime towns of Accon 
(Accho), Tripoli, Berytus, etc. Under the fourth king of 
Jerusalem, Foulk (1131 — 1142), the kingdom attained its 
extreme limits, and extended from the Upper Euphrates, along 
the Syrian coast as far as the northern extremity of the Red 
Sea, with several cities situated on the borders of the Syrian 
desert. There were four Christian states, namely: — the 
kingdom of Jerusalem, the county of Tri- 
polis, the principality of Antioch, and the 
county of Edessa, which last three the rulers held as 
vassals under the king. 

The Second Crusade, 1147—1149. 

The Egyptian caliphs made repeated attempts to recover the 
Holy Land, and in 1142, Edessa fell into the hancb of the 
celebrated Zenghi, the governor of Aleppo, who, during the 
absence of the young Count Joscelin, suddenly besieged it with 
a large army, and took it by storm. The inhabitants were 
put to death; the garrison only was allowed to retire. The 
news of this disaster reaching Europe, St. Bernard, abbot of 
153 3h 



A.D. 1171 89.] THE CRUSADES. [§ 34. 

Clairvaux, preached up another crusade, and persuaded Louis 
vii. of France, and Gonrad m. of Germany, to assume the 
cross. The number engaged in this crusade was probably not 
less than 800,000 persons, who were separated into two grand 
divisions. The same ravages and disorder which had disgraced 
the first crusade, occurred also in this. The army under Conrad, 
being led into the denies of the mountains of Asia Minor by 
their guides, the Sultan of Iconium marched upon them, and 
cut them to pieces. Conrad, with scarcely a tenth of his 
army, escaped to the French army at Niceea, and returned 
to Constantinople. Louis pursued his march, but narrowly 
escaped a defeat at Laodicea, where he was attacked by the 
Turkish forces. Subsequently, the two kings proceeded along 
the coast of Pamphylia, where they embarked, with a portion 
of the army, for Antioch ; the other division of the army pro- 
ceeded to Tersus (Tarsus), and on the way nearly perished 
through sickness and want, and the repeated attacks of the 
enemy. The two monarchs reached the Holy Land, and, in 
league with Baldwin m., proceeded to lay siege to Damascus 
(giving up, for the present, the reconquering of Edessa). The 
attempt proved unsuccessful, and the two kings, Louis and 
Conrad, returned to their own dominions. 

The Third Crusade, 1189—1193. 

The dynasty of the Fatimides was displaced by Saladin, the 
successful general of Nureddin, on whose death he caused 
himself to be elected Sultan (1171). Having vanquished 
Egypt and subdued Assyria, Armenia, and Arabia, he revived 
the claims of the sultans of Egypt upon Palestine and Syria, 
which provinces he had completely hemmed in by his con- 
quests. The Christian princes, divided by mutual jealousies, 
soon fell a prey to the arms of Saladin, who defeated the 
Christians in several engagements. The battle fought (1187) 
at Hittim (near Tiberias) was decisive : the Christians were 
completely vanquished, and the king of Jerusalem (Guy of 
Lusignan) was taken prisoner, with many noble knights. 
Many of the cities opened their gates to the conqueror, and 
Jerusalem itself surrendered, after sustaining a siege of four- 
teen days, having been thirty-eight years in the hands of the 
Christians. 

The loss of the holy city rekindled the zeal of the Christians 
in the west, and the three most powerful sovereigns in Europe, 
Frederick i. (Barbarossa), now seventy years of age; Philip 
154 



§ 34.] THE CRUSADES. [1189-92 A.D. 

Augustus, king of France ; and Richard Coeur de Lion of 
England, with the flower of their chivalry, entered upon the 
third crusade. The Emperor Frederick pursued the route 
through Hungary and the Greek states, achieving a series of 
triumphs in his march. On his arrival in the regions of the 
Taurus, he met the Saracen armies, under the Sultan of 
Iconium, whose troops he repeatedly vanquished, and, at 
length, seized their capital city, Cogni (Iconium). The em- 
peror then overran Cilicia and Armenia, and would no doubt 
have recovered the holy city, had not death suddenly ter- 
minated his career, while bathing in a heated state in the 
Calycadnos (Selef), in Seleucia. The command of the army 
devolved upon his son, the Duke of Bavaria, who, by the time 
he reached the Syrian coast, had lost the greater part of his 
troops, through pestilence, famine, and desertion. On arriving 
before Acre, the duke Frederick, with his slender army, 
assisted the Christians in the siege of the city, which proved 
too strong for them; and while here, he instituted the order 
of " The Teutonic Knights," soon after which, before the fall 
of the city, he died of the plague (1191). In the meanwhile, 
the two kings, Philip and Richard, had arrived by sea, and 
joined the besiegers before Acre, which soon surrendered, in 
the third year of the siege (1191). Philip and Richard agreed 
to divide the spoils, even to half of the city, and the standard 
of either monarch was planted in his own portion. The Duke 
of Austria attempting to plant his standard, the officers of 
Richard plucked it down, when Richard trampled upon it, an 
act which the Austrian duke never forgave. A dispute arising 
between Richard and Philip respecting the division of territory, 
and the election of the king of Jerusalem, Philip returned to 
France, having first solemnly assured the English monarch 
that he would make no attempt upon his French possessions. 
Richard advanced upon Ascalon, and was met on the way by 
Saladin, who, after a deadly conflict, withdrew, leaving 8,000 
Moslems dead upon the field of battle. Ascalon and Joppa 
were razed, by order of Saladin, in order that they might not 
fall into the hands of the Christians. Richard pursued the 
route to Jerusalem; but on the arrival of the army, it was 
discovered that they had not the means of laying the siege ; 
and Richard, finding, from reports which reached him, that his 
presence in his own dominions was indispensable, concluded a 
truce with the Sultan for three years. It was agreed that the 
155 



A.D. 1192-1203.] THE CRUSADES. [§3-4. 

coast from Acre to Joppa should remain in the hands of the 
Christians, while the free pilgrimage to Jerusalem was also 
secured. Before the departure of Richard, he conferred the 
sovereignty of Cyprus upon Guy de Lusignan, whose posterity 
retained it for upwards of two centuries. On his way home 
(1192), accompanied by his two queens, and his splendid 
retinue, a storm overtook the vessels, which were dispersed. 
Richard, at length, reached Venice, where he was arrested by 
Leopold, duke of Austria, and thrown into prison. The stern 
emperor, Henry v., afterwards took the royal captive under 
his care, whom he transferred to Trifels. One hundred and 
fifty thousand marks of silver were demanded for his ransom, 
which his subjects willingly paid, although the plate of the 
church and monasteries throughout the kingdom, had to be 
sold to meet the demand (1194). 
, The Fourth Crusade, 1202—1204. 

Fresh bands of Germans and French were sent out by the 
Emperor Henry vi., which, having reached Syria by the way 
of Constantinople, succeeded in recovering Saida (Sidon), 
Tyre, and Berytus (Beirut), when the death of the emperor in 
Sicily took place. 

Pope Innocent not having succeeded in prevailing upon any 
of the Christian monarchs of the West to undertake another 
crusade, appealed to the greater barons, when the Marquis of 
Montferrat, the Duke of Flanders, and some French barons, 
undertook a crusade against Egypt, then considered as the key 
to the Holy Land. The ships were furnished by the Vene- 
tians ; and as the crusaders could not make up the sum re- 
quired for the hire of the vessels, they agreed to render mili- 
tary service. Their first efforts were directed against Zara, 
which had revolted from the Venetians, and joined the Hun- 
garians. The city fell, and the crusaders were on the way to 
Palestine, when they were earnestly entreated by the son of 
the deposed Greek emperor (Isaac Angelus), whose eyes had 
been put out by his brother Alexius, to replace his father on 
the throne. Indemnity in money to any amount was agreed 
to be given, as well as the reunion of the Greek and Latin 
churches, etc. To this proposal the Venetians and the cru- 
saders agreed, and proceeded to Constantinople. A short siege 
was sufficient to secure the restoration of the blinded monarch, 
with whom Alexius, his son, was associated ; but the demands 
of the Venetians agreed to by Alexius could not be complied 
156 



§ 34.] THE CRUSADES. [1024-6 A.D. 

with, and the Venetians abandoned the Greeks to themselves. 
Scarcely had they departed, however, when the Greeks slew 
the emperor, and his son Alexius, and placed a favourite 
Mourzoujle on the throne. The crusaders immediately re- 
turned ; and again besieged the capital, which soon after fell. 
Having slain the usurper, they elected a new emperor in the 
person of Baldwin, the count of Flanders, and thus founded 
the Latin Empire, and, for a time, effected the union of 
the Greek and Latin churches (1204). The capital (Constan- 
tinople), conquered and taken for the first time since the seat 
of the empire had been transferred to it, was plundered with- 
out mercy ; its finest monuments and buildings were de- 
stroyed, while more than half of the city was consumed by the 
flames. Its works of art were either broken down or muti- 
lated, or, as in the case of the four celebrated brazen horses of 
Lysippus, carried away to Venice. Baldwin received the pro- 
vince of Thracia with the royal dignity, and the supremacy 
over all the remaining states. To the Venetians were given 
one-fourth and a half of the whole conquered territory, em- 
bracing the ports of the Adriatic, iEgean, and Black seas, 
Greece, with the Cyclades, and Sporades. Bonifacius, the 
marquis of Montferrat, received Candia (in 1207 sold to the 
Venetians), and all belonging to the empire beyond the Bos- 
phorus (Macedonia), with a portion of Greece, erected into the 
kingdom of Thessaloniki. Other chiefs had also their shares 
of the dismembered empire, but they all held them as the 
vassals of Baldwin. 

In the midst of this general overthrow, several of the Greek 
princes (the Comneni) made efforts to retain some portions of 
the empire. Theodore Lascaris founded the kingdom em- 
bracing part of Bithynia, Lydia, Caria, etc., having for its 
capital Nicsea (1206). About the same period, Alexius and 
David Comnenus founded in Pontus the kingdom of Trebi- 
zond; and a short time after, Michael Comnenus founded an 
independent state, embracing Epirus, Arcanania, JEtolia, etc. 
The most powerful of these sovereigns was the Nicsean em- 
peror, Theodore Lascaris, whose successors found little diffi- 
culty, with the aid of the Genoese (the rivals of the Venetians), 
in resuming their supremacy over the Latin emperors. Driven 
from city to city, the Latins were, at last, hemmed up in the 
capital. In 1261, it was, under Michael Paleologus, besieged 
and captured by the Genoese. Baldwin n. fled to Xegropont, 
157 



A.D. 1212-21.] THE CRUSADES, [§ 34. 

and thence to Italy. Thus ended the Latin empire, after a 
brief duration of fifty-seven years. 

The Crusade of Frederick il, 1228—1229. 

The unremitting exertions of pope Innocent ni. to incite 
another crusade for the recovery of Palestine out of the hands 
of the Turks, proved fruitless and unsuccessful. 

In 1212, incredible as it may now appear, a number of boys or youths 
in France and Germany undertook to execute -what kings and princes 
had failed to accomplish, the deliverance of the holy city. This 
Crusade of the Children was headed by a fanatical youth, 
named Stephen of Yendome, who gave out that the Saviour had 
appeared to liim, and given his authority to preach the cross. Philip of 
Prance, under the sanction of the university of Paris, issued an edict to 
compel them to return to then* homes, which but few obeyed. The 
same spirit spread rapidly through the German states, and thousands 
of youths of all ranks crossed the Alps, during the passage of which 
hundreds perished. The remainder entered Italy, where they remained, 
while a few, after enduring many hardships, returned to their native 
country. 30,000 young French crusaders, however, proceeded to 
Marseilles, to embark for Palestine. Two slave masters awaited their 
arrival, and engaged to convey them to Syria without charge. The 
simple youths accepted the offer, and embarked on board the vessels. 
Two were lost in the Mediterranean, and all on board perished. Five, 
instead of sailing to Syria, landed the hapless pilgrims in Egypt, where 
they were all sold in the slave market of Alexandria. These Marseillese 
slave merchants were subsequently convicted of a plot to betray 
Frederick n. into the hands of a Saracen minister, and executed. 

The so-called Fifth Crusade was undertaken by Andrew 
II. of Hungary, and terminated disastrously. Having joined 
the kings of Cyprus and Jerusalem, they besieged the city of 
Tabor. While before it, the besiegers were overtaken by 
despair and famine, and the armies were compelled to divide 
into small bodies, to save themselves from utter destruction. 
The Cypriot king died, and Andrew returned to his distracted 
kingdom. The next proceeding of the council of the titular 
king of Jerusalem was to direct the siege of Damietta (in 
Egypt), which was accomplished, and the sultan's army sent to 
its relief vanquished. Soon after, assistance arrived from 
Portugal of a fleet of ships and a large number of troops, under 
Cardinal Albino, who, as the pope's officer, took the command 
out of the hands of the king (John of Brienne), and soon after 
lost the fleet, which was burned by the Saracens, and the pos- 
session of the city, which was lost to the sultan (1221). Upon 
the news of this defeat reaching the pope Honorius nx, he, 
with greater vehemence, urged upon the emperor Frederick n. 
158 



§ 34.] THE CRUSADES. [1228-49 A.D. 

the necessity of his fulfilling the vow made on his accession, 
and renewed at his coronation, to take up the cross. The 
internal affairs of Germany and Italy were such as to demand 
the presence of the emperor, and hence his departure was 
delayed until the signing of the treaty of St. Germane The 
emperor had scarcely assembled his army, when he was 
seized with sickness, and compelled yet longer to delay. The 
pontiff (Gregory ix.), believing it to be mere pretence, excom- 
municated him. In 1228, Frederick embarked, without even 
seeking absolution, and landed with only a hundred knights at 
Ptolemais. So indisposed were the crusaders to cooperate with 
one under sentence of excommunication, that the emperor was 
compelled to open the campaign as he could. What, however, 
could not probably have been obtained by force of arms, was se- 
cured by a treaty with the sultans of Damascus and Damietta ; 
Bethlehem, Nazareth, Sidon, and other towns, were restored, and 
the free admission to the holy city and the temple guaranteed for 
ten years. Frederick, after the signing of this treaty, proceeded 
to Jerusalem, the crown of which devolved upon him, as the 
son-in-law of John de Brienne. On the refusal of the patriarch 
to crown him, he being an excommunicated person, he placed 
the diadem on his own head, and immediately set sail for Italy, 
to defend his territorie's, which had been assailed by the pope 
during his absence. 

The Sixth Crusade, 1248. 

A violation of the truce by a band of pilgrims under the 
guidance of the king of Navarre, again occasioned the loss of 
the holy city (1239). In 1240, however, it was again re- 
stored to Richard, duke of Cornwall, in whose hands it remained, 
until (in 1244) the Mongols from Upper Asia came down in 
such swarms upon the Chowaresmian or Carismian Turks of 
Khorassan, that the latter were compelled to flee before them, 
and seek another territory. They therefore pressed upon the 
Mameluke Turks of Syria and Palestine, and overran their 
country ; Jerusalem was pillaged and burned : but the Christians 
still retained some important possessions on the coast, as Tyre, 
Accon, etc. About the same time, Louis ix. of France 
undertook a crusade, in fulfilment of a sacred vow made when 
lying upon a bed of sickness. Louis proceeded in advance of 
the main army to Cyprus, from which island he set sail in the 
following year (1249), with 1,800 vessels, for Damietta. The 
army of the sultan awaited their arrival, to prevent their 
159 



A.D. 1249-91.] THE CRUSADES. [§ 34. 

landing : a report that the sultan was dead having been circu- 
lated throughout the Turkish camp, they set fire to the ware- 
houses, and evacuated the city, which was immediately taken 
possession of by the crusaders. On the arrival of the Count of 
Poitiers, Louis proceeded to Cairo, where he engaged in two 
desperate battles at Mansurah with the armies of the sultan. 
Such was the slaughter, that the Nile was choked by the 
corpses of the slain, and contagious fevers broke out among 
them, arising from the putrefaction of the water. The 
Christian army was compelled to retreat, followed by the 
Mamelukes, who at length made the principal part of his army, 
the knights, and even the king himself, prisoners. 800,000 
pieces of gold was the ransom fixed, and the surrender of 
Damietta; out of 2,800 knights, only 100 remained on the 
landing of the king at Accon, who spent vast sums of money in 
fortifying the ports of Cassarea, Jaffa, Sidon, and Accon. On 
the news of the death of his mother (Blanche), who had 
carried on the regency during his absence, Louis returned to 
France. 

The Seventh Crusade, 1270. 

Bendoadar, a Mameluke chieftain, having been raised to the 
sultanate of Egypt on the assassination of Malek el Kamel, he 
determined to recover the cities yet in the hands of the 
Christians ; Csesarea, Sidon, and Jaffa fell, one after the other. 
Antioch was besieged, 27,000 of its inhabitants were mas- 
sacred, and 100,000 sold into slavery (1268). In 1291, 
Accon (Acre), the last Christian possession, fell to the Mame- 
luke sultan, who took possession of it with 30,000 troops, 
twenty-one years after the death of Louis. 

In 1268, King Louis ix., conceiving that he had not carried out the 
intentions of his war in his former crusade, on the news of the fall of 
Antioch resolved to undertake another. The armament, when complete, 
met at the port of Aigues-Mortes (1270), where, in consequence of 
serious delays in embarking, thousands perished by sickness and famine. 
The crusaders, fearing the consequences of a tedious voyage to Egypt or 
Palestine, influenced the king to attack the Mohammedans of Tunis, 
where they hoped to enrich themselves with the spoils of the city, 
which abounded in wealth. Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily, also 
seconded the demand of the irritated knights, probably hoping to regain 
Ins lost ascendency over the province, once tributary to Sicily. This 
king landed in the neighbourhood of ancient Carthage, when the want of 
water, and the heat from the burning sands, produced a pestilence, which 
swept away thousands of the invaders, among whom were the papal 
legate, the Count of Nevers, and the king mniself, whose bones were 
160 



§ 34.] INFLUENCE OF THE CRUSADES. 

conveyed to Paris, and buried at St. Denis. Philip, the heir-apparent, 
recovered of his sickness, and on the arrival of reinforcements, under 
the command of his uncle, Charles of Anjou, the king of the Tunisians 
(in a state of ferment and revolt) agreed to liberate the Christian 
captives, and to pay 200,000 ounces of gold towards defraying the 
expenses of the expedition, while an annual tribute of 20,000 doubloons 
was guaranteed to the king of Sicily. 

The Influence of the Crusades. 

The crusades were an event in which all the countries of 
Europe combined for the first time to effect one common 
object; the cause was one, and one sentiment pervaded all 
who engaged in them. At first the movement was individual; 
crowds of the French and German populace, with a sprinkling 
of the peasantry of Italy, Spain, and England, alone taking 
any part in them. Their principal leaders consisted of a 
fanatical hermit, and a few obscure knight3 and esquires. 
Afterwards the great feudal nobility embraced the cause, the 
barons of France and England assumed the cross with ardour, 
and pursued the wearisome route to Palestine ; and, lastly, the 
sovereigns of Europe placed themselves at the head of the 
crusading armies, and invested them with nationality. The 
crusades were a continuation of the struggle between Christi- 
anity and Mohammedanism. Hitherto the conflict had been 
carried on only in Europe; at the period of the crusades it 
extended to Asia. The duration of the Moslem caliphats 
in Spain was brief and transitory, and the Christian kingdoms 
and principalities founded in Asia were still more so. The 
religious chivalry, however, which they excited, consider- 
ably influenced the manners of the feudal chiefs who engaged 
in them, and tended to preserve Christendom from the fana- 
tical ambition inculcated by the Moslem faith. 

One of the principal effects of the crusades was the aggran- 
disement of the Roman pontiffs, whose power 
was supreme. Papal legates were despatched to all the 
courts of Europe to excite subjects, and to compel kings and 
princes to take up the badge of the cross. The church itself 
was taxed, under the pretext of defraying the expenses of the 
expedition; while legates sent out from Rome filled up the 
bishoprics and abbeys belonging to those who were absent in 
the wars with the friends and partisans of the reigning pontiff. 
The revenues of the church, too, were considerably augmented 
by the numerous advowsons which took place, as well as by 
the purchase (at a nominal value) of the estates of those who had 
161 



INFLUENCE OF THE CRUSADES. [§ 34, 

a desire to assume the cross, but were without the means of 
defraying the expenses of the expedition. The influence of the 
crusades upon monarchy or royalty was varied. In 
England, and partially in Germany, the great feudatories took 
advantage of the absence of the monarch to extend their own 
domains, and to consolidate their individual interests. In France 
it was otherwise ; there the royal domains were augmented by the 
addition of the lapsed fiefs of the crusaders who had died without 
issue, and the purchase of others, belonging to those who wished 
to engage in the enterprise. To those sovereigns whose sole 
desire was conquest, the crusades became the means of consi- 
derably increasing their power, and extending their boundaries. 
In Spain, the Christians won from the Mohammedans of 
Grenada the greater part of the caliphat. The Danes subdued 
the Sclavonian tribes on the shores of the Baltic. Sweden 
obtained Finland, Nyland, Helsingeland, and Jamptland, and 
partially subdued the Esthonians ; while the heathen Prussians 
were nearly extirpated by the dukes of Massovia, and the 
Teutonic knights, who shared the conquered territory. 

With the crusades commenced the use of surnames, 
as well as of armorial bearings, and the science of 
heraldry. Among the innumerable masses from all 
the various nations of Europe, it was necessary to have 
marks or symbols by which to distinguish particular nations, 
or to point out their respective leaders. Coats of arms were 
therefore emblazoned on their national standards, while the 
barons, the knights, and the esquires, had them painted on 
their shields. The crusades introduced also tournaments, 
jousts, tilts, festive chivalry, or a sort of mimic warfare, 
in which the combatants displayed at once their skill and their 
magnificence. 

1) To the same period belongs also the institution of 
religious and military orders, the most important 
of which was the order of the Hospitallers of St. John 
of Jerusalem, called afterwards the Order of Malta, 
founded by some merchants of Amalfi at Jerusalem (1048). 
There was at first only the church, in which a Latin or Komish 
litany was performed. Afterwards there was founded a Bene- 
dictine convent, dedicated to St. Mary, and a hospital, conse- 
crated to St. John, for the reception of sick and necessitous pil- 
grims. In a short period, it became immensely rich by the 
numerous donations of lands and seignories, both in Europe and 
162 



§ 34.] INFLUENCE OF THE CRUSADES. 

Palestine. One of its governors, a Frenchman, formed with his 
brethren a distinct congregation, and adopted a certain habit, 
which consisted of a black mantle, decorated with a white cross. 
The conditions imposed upon its members consisted of the three 
vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, to which was afterwards 
added a fourth vow, to take up arms against the infidels. In 
1120, the members of the order were divided into three classes: 
a) priests and chaplains ; b) knights, who, in addition to the 
priestly habit, wore arms and a coat of mail; c) serving 
brethren, who were charged with the care of the sick pilgrims, 
and likewise in the capacity of soldiers. This order was at 
length diffused over the whole of Europe, and was at first 
governed by a master, but in 1100, Eaymond du Puy took the 
title of grand master. After the final loss of Palestine (1291), 
the order settled in the island of Cyprus. From thence they 
proceeded to Rhodes, which they took from the infidel Turks 
(1310). In this latter island they remained until 1522, when 
they were driven out by Soliman the Great. In 1530, the 
Emperor Charles v. (of Spain) presented them with the isles of 
Malta, Gozo, and Comino, on condition that they became his 
allies against the infidel Turks and the pirates of Barbary. 
They now adopted the title of "Knights of Malta." 
Of these possessions they were deprived by Buonaparte in 
1798, and in 1800 they were finally lost to the English: 

On the loss of Malta, the emperor Paul of Eussia assumed the dignity 
of grand master, hoping thereby to gain possession of the island, and 
thus to obtain a footing in the Mediterranean. This, however, the 
English successfully resisted, in spite of the stipulations proposed by the 
treaty of Amiens. After the death of Paul, the grand masters continued 
to be elected by the brethren of the order, who, on the loss of Malta, 
resided first at Catania, and in 1831 removed to Eome. By the influ- 
ence of Austria, the order recovered a considerable portion of its pos- 
sessions in other countries, while in all the Austrian states full resti- 
tution was made. 

The order of the Knights Templars was nearly 
coeval with that of St. John. Its first founders were nine 
French knights, who, in 1118, combined for the protection of 
the pilgrims against the attacks of the banditti of the deserts 
and the mountains, the Bedouin Arabs, who waylaid the 
pilgrims on the unfrequented roads. They received their 
name from their residence, which was the palace of Baldwin, 
the king of Jerusalem, built near the temple of Solomon. In 
addition to the triple vow of the knights of St. John, they took 
upon themselves an oath to maintain a free passage and safe 
163 



INFLUENCE OF THE CRUSADES. [§34. 

conduct for the pilgrims. They were divided into three classes 
— a) the knights proper, taken from the descendants of the 
nobility, and who wore at first only a plain white habit, but 
afterwards an octagonal cross of a red colour embroidered upon 
it; b) the priests and chaplains, who superintended or had 
the management of the spiritual and domestic arrangements 
of the order ; and c) the serving brethren, who did the household 
work, and also attended upon the superior or proper knights in 
war. This order soon extended beyond the boundaries of 
Palestine, and spread over the Spanish peninsula and France. 
On the loss of the Holy Land to the Turks, like the knights 
of St. John, they fled to the island of Cyprus for shelter, where 
they remained for a while, and then took up their residence in 
France. In the reign of Philip, on the accusation of two ex- 
Templars, they were all seized in one day, and thrown into 
prison (1302). After examination before commissioners, per- 
mitted to subject the accused to torture, during which many 
revolting circumstances, strengthened by their own confessions, 
were confirmed, they were put to death by the most cruel 
tortures that could be invented. The grand master, James 
Molay, who was enticed to France from Cyprus, was, with fifty- 
four others (who, like himself, had denied before Philip their 
former admissions), roasted alive before a slow fire; not one 
of the number, even in the midst of his excruciating agonies, 
would purchase remission by again recriminating his or- 
der. The persecution extended throughout Europe, and at 
length, in opposition to the proceedings of many provincial 
synods beyond the French territory, the pope (who acted in 
the transaction with Philip rv\ of France) issued from his pon- 
tifical seat at Avignon an order for their abolition. Their 
property went to the king, who for five years was suffered by 
Clement to enjoy it unmolested; after which he issued his decree 
for its annexation to the order of the Knights Hospitallers. 

The order of the Teutonic Knights, according to the 
most probable accounts, took its rise in the camp before Accon 
or Ptolemais, where some citizens of Bremen and Lubecka 
created a temporary asylum with the sails of their ships for 
the relief of the numerous sick and wounded German pilgrims. 
Soon after, being joined by a number of influential knights, 
they were formed into a religious establishment, under the 
Hohenstaufen duke, Frederick of Suabia, and took the vow of 
consecration to the service of the sick, as also to the defence of 
161 



§ 34.] INFLUENCE OF THE CRUSADES. 

the Holy Land against the infidels. This order was known by 
the name of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary of Jerusalem, 
and received its confirmation from pope Calixtus ni. (1192), 
who directed it to be governed by the same rules as the Knights 
of St. John, as regarded the visitation of the sick, while in 
relation to chivalry or knighthood, the order of the Templars 
was to be its model. The brethren were to be exclusively of 
the Teutonic or Germanic race, and those who were knights 
assumed a black habit, with a white mantle, adorned with a 
black cross, edged with silver. There were also serving bre- 
thren, and subsequently chaplains, or priests. The first resi- 
dence of the order was at Accon, where they were governed by 
a grand master. Under their fourth grand master, Herman 
of Salza, who was elevated by Frederick n. to the dignity of 
a German sovereign, the order became possessed of consider- 
able wealth, besides immense territorial possessions in the East 
and West, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Germany, 
and the ardour for crusades against the infidel Turks of 
Palestine abated, and the last Christian possession fell into the 
hands of the Mamelukes ; the knights of the order accepted the 
offer of Conrad, the duke of Mazzovia, to receive Culm Land, 
and the territory of Lockbau, as payment for assisting him 
against the heathen Prussians (1233). This involved them in 
an exterminating warfare of fifty years' duration, during 
which they were assisted by large bands of the crusaders, who 
had been driven out of the Holy Land. Their conquests 
were distinguished by wise and judicious arrangements; as 
they gained upon the territories of their enemies, castles and 
forts were erected, which they garrisoned, and cities and towns 
were formed and peopled with German citizens, as Culm, 
Thorn, and Marienwerder. In 1237, the Knights of 
Christ, or Sword Bearers, confirmed by Innocent in. 
(1204), finding themselves too weak to oppose singly the 
heathens of Livonia, amalgamated with the Teutonic Order, 
and were governed by a general or provincial master, termed 
Heermeister, or Landmeister. Strengthened by the union, the 
heathen Prussians suffered considerably, and at length were 
cut off rather than subdued, and their country fell into the 
hands of their conquerors. The principal seat of the order 
had been at Accon for nearly a century, but when that city 
fell into the hands of the Egyptian sultan in 1291, it was, 
under the grand master (Conrad of Feuchtwagen) removed to 
165 



INFLUENCE OF THE CEUSADES. [§ 34. 

Venice ; but when, on the taking of the city of Ferra, the 
Venetians were excommunicated by the pope, the chief seat of 
the order was removed to Marienburg, in Prussia. In 1528, 
in consequence of a change in their religious sentiments (first 
embraced by their grand master, Albert of Brandenburg), they 
transferred their principal residence to Mergentheim, in 
Franconia. 

A fourth order of Hospitallers was that of the Knights 
of St. John of Jerusalem; at first only a medical 
order, and confined to the cure of lepers, up to the period of 
the crusades confined to the Asiatics, but subsequently spread 
over Europe as a plague. In process of time the order became 
military, and under the patronage of St. Louis of France took 
up their abode at Boigny, near Orleans. Subsequently, the 
pope, Gregory xin., united them with the order of St. Maurice, 
and Henry iv. with that of Our Lady of Mount Carrnel. 

Other orders were spread over Italy, Spain, and Portugal, but these four 
served as models and examples for all the rest. To such establishments 
we may probably trace the consolidation no less than the formation of 
the various orders or ranks of nobility throughout Europe. While the 
residences of the knights were in Palestine, they formed a sort of stand- 
ing army for the defence of the Christian possessions. 

The services of the knighthood were rendered on horseback ; 
hence one of its regulations was, that the son of a knight, 
while being a squire, should learn how to take care of a horse. 
The profession was highly honourable and dignified, and pro- 
bably existed in Gaul at a very early period ; it was not, how- 
ever, until the time of the crusades that it existed in any 
degree of splendour, when the art of forging arms had pro- 
gressed, and the warrior knight was so incased in iron or 
bronze that the steel of the enemy could scarcely find an 
entrance. In general, knighthood was only open to the noble 
possessors of fiefs, or those who had the right to become such 
by inheritance or otherwise; but in some of the kingdoms of the 
North, and France, there was an exception, and citizens were 
permitted to be enrolled among their number. From France 
and Germany, where the greater feudal lords served always 
on horseback, the profession of chivalry spread over all the 
countries of Europe. The order of knighthood (prdo militaris) 
consisted of three degrees or ranks : first, there was the page, 
from seven to fourteen years of age, when he became an es- 
quire (arrniger famillus), which dignity he sustained until he 
166 



§ 34.] INFLUENCE OF THE CRUSADES. 

reached the age of twenty-one years, when the degree of 
knighthood was open to him. On his entrance upon the 
duties of chivalry, he was required to take a number of oaths, 
enjoining him to shield the church and uphold the faith, and 
to be in readiness to revenge all injuries done to it. He was 
to keep his own honour inviolate and unsullied, and to observe 
towards the female sex a high moral demeanour, becoming 
delicacy, and modesty ; esteeming a dame or maiden of inferior 
rank, if of unblemished reputation, above a high-born noble 
woman whose character was marked by the least stain. On 
his creation, he was invested with spurs, a coat of mail, 
cuirass, varn braces and gauntlets, and a sword ; afterwards 
he was pronounced " dubbed " (from adoubis, adopt), and 
addressed by his lord in the following words : "In the name 
of God, of St. Michael, and St. George, I dub thee knight." 

To take part in the tournaments, it was requisite to 
belong to the order of chivalry or knighthood, and to possess 
an unblemished reputation. The arms first used consisted of 
wooden swords, with blunted iron points; afterwards steel 
swords were allowed, but they were not sharpened or whetted, 
and long lances. The combatants fought either in masses, 
or singly, and the victory was awarded to him who lifted his 
adversary out of his saddle. The rewards consisted generally 
of valuable arms, wrought in gold, of neck chains, or rings, 
made of gold, which the conquerors received from the hands 
of some noble dame. The tournament was presided over by 
those knights who were eminent for their deeds of chivalry, 
and who regulated the proceedings Recording to established 
laws. After the tournament, the esquires gratified the company 
by performing a joust with their long lances. 

During the period of the crusades, commerce and 
navigation made considerable progress. The states of 
Venice and Genoa, with Pisa, by assisting the crusaders in 
their holy wars, also obtained for themselves considerable 
trading privileges, and established emporiums of commerce on 
the coasts of Greece, and in Asia. Towards the middle of 
the thirteenth century those associations began to be formed, 
termed leagues. In 1241, the Hanseatic League was established 
by the citizens of Hammar (Hamburg), Lubeck, and Bremen, 
in all (before the close of the thirteenth century) embracing 
upwards of eighty towns ; their four great emporia were, Novgo - 
rod and Narva for Russia, etc., Bergen for Scandivania, London 
167 



INFLUENCE OF THE CRUSADES. [§ 34. 

for the British Isles, and Bruges, and afterwards Antwerp, for 
the nations on the German frontiers. Commerce was also faci- 
litated by those overland missions which during this period 
were undertaken by Italy and France, as well as by many 
other European nations, who despatched their messengers to the 
great khan of the Mongols, and to the emperor who resided 
farther east ; from whom also ambassadors arrived at the 
courts of Rome, Paris, London, etc. The east and west being 
thus brought into contact, combined with the residence of 
the crusaders so long in the East, considerably improved their 
ma nners. The inhabitants of the West became more ele- 
vated, refined, and polished; old prejudices were removed, and 
the judgments of men, hitherto cramped and warped, assumed 
a greater degree of elasticity and freedom. It was by these 
mutual interchanges that the arts of the West were made known 
in the distant countries of the East, and by the same means the 
commodities of the East first found their way into Europe, where 
their value quickly began to be appreciated. Hence we soon find 
new routes opened by which to carry on commercial enterprises ; 
silks, china, porcelain, etc., with the rich fabrics and delicate 
textures of India, speedily find their way into the ports of Caffa, 
and Azov, etc., the entrepots of the Venetians and Genoese. 
Before the crusades, commerce had been limited by restric- 
tions, but after the excitement created by them had passed away 
maritime commerce received a powerful impulse, and this 
gave rise to the formation of towns and cities. Guilds 
and companies began to be established by the burgh- 
ers; hence a third order of society was founded, dis- 
tinct from the clergy and nobility. Before this period the 
inhabitants of the cities or towns possessed neither civil nor 
political rights, and were treated almost as serfs. The most 
populous and oppressed cities resolved to throw off this yoke, 
and formed communes or corporations. At length, 
charters were obtained, either by force or by purchase, which 
secured to them their liberty, and the protection of the so- 
vereign, whose interest it was to shield those who provided 
for the wants of his exchequer, and at the same time limited 
the overgrown power of the feudal chiefs. The burghers at 
length fortified their cities, and placed themselves in a con- 
dition to defend their liberties against the attacks of their 
feudal lords, who were compelled at last to yield to the power 
of these communes ; nor did the burghers defend themselves 
168 



§ 35. J LOTHAIRE THE SAXON. [1125 A.D. 

only, but also protected the slaves and freedmen who lived 
outside the cities, in the country, and whom they encouraged to 
escape from their tyrannical superiors, and take refuge within 
the city walls, well knowing, if they were not discovered 
and claimed within a certain time, that their freedom was 
secure. The nobles at length perceived that slavery must be 
mitigated, if not abolished. The continual feuds which sprang 
up between the free cities, many of them being erected into 
powerful republics, rendered their partial freedom at least an 
act of necessity. 

The period of the crusades was distinguished by the acquisi- 
tion of a large amount of geographical knowledge; 
and the. countries of the East opened up to the inhabitants 
of the West an order of things entirely new ; missions to the 
remote lands of the East were entered upon, and an intense 
desire for discovery was everywhere manifested. The shores 
of the Baltic were explored by the merchants of Bremen, 
and the members of the Hansa (Hanseatic league) penetrated, 
by following the track of the Permians and Varegues, into 
Tartary. Carpini, Ascelin, Rubruquis, and the brothers Polo, 
with many others, traversed the countries of the East, and 
laid a sort of foundation for future discoveries, although at 
first the accounts which they gave were entirely discredited. 

§35. 

THE GEKMAN EMPIKE UNDER LOTHAIHE THE SAXON, 
1125—1137. 

With Henry v. ended the male line of the house of Franco- 
nia ; a new election, therefore, became indispensable. On the 
assembling of the nobles, under the direction of the Archbishop 
of Maynz, four princes were proposed for the imperial dignity 
(Conrad and Henry the Proud being excluded, although the 
former had, with his brother Frederick, been named by the late 
emperor as his successor). Under the influence of the arch- 
bishop, who was no friend to the house of Hohenstaufen, of 
which Frederick, the expectant of the throne, was a member, 
the election fell upon Lothaire, although he had urged the 
electors not to nominate him. At his election he agreed that 
the church should possess the right of choosing her own officers, 
and that the investitures with the temporalities of the church 
should not take place until after the consecration by the pope. 
169 i 



A.D. 1125-37.] LOTHAIRE THE SAXON. [§ 35. 

There were also several remarkable innovations introduced 
into the concordat sworn to by Lothaire, inserted under the 
direction of the papal legate, among which the presence of the 
emperor was forbidden at the ecclesiastical elections, and the 
oath of allegiance taken by the clergy was changed into one 
of simple adherence of fidelity, while the temporal princes 
were bound to both. He even dispatched prelates to Eome to 
request the papal confirmation of his own election ; thus giving 
up, by his submission, the fundamental principles upon which 
the empire was founded; for hitherto the emperor had con- 
firmed the election of the popes, and not unfrequently nomi- 
nated them also. To the election of this servile sovereign 
Frederick of Suabia demurred, and a civil war ensued. Fre- 
derick was joined by the powerful duke of Bavaria, Henry 
the Proud, whom the emperor detached from the interests of 
Frederick by conferring upon him the vacant duchy of Saxony, 
and the hand of his daughter. His place was however soon 
after supplied by Conrad of Franconia (just returned from 
the crusades), who joined Frederick with his Lombardian and 
German troops. In the end, however, Lothaire trimnphed, 
and forced his rivals to submit, when he passed over into 
Italy, and soon after received the crown from the hands of 
Innocent n. 

The members of the house of Hohenstaufen not only maintained them- 
selves in their vast possessions, but sought also to obtain the imperial 
crown, and therefore commenced a civil war for the purpose of raising 
Duke Conrad to the empire. Conrad, however, soon found that in 
Grermany his cause was hopeless, and therefore turned his hopes towards 
Italy, which country he entered, and was crowned at Monza. The pope, 
however, pronounced an excommimication against him and his adhe- 
herents, which had the effect of depriving him of all further assistance 
from his allies. He had therefore no other resource but to submit, 
after a struggle of nine years' duration. 

Lothaire made two expeditions into Italy. His first was 
to settle the schism in the church, consequent on the siundtaneous 
election of two popes (Anaclete n. and Innocent n.). The latter, who 
had been driven from Eome by Anaclete, was restored (1132), and as a 
proof of his gratitude, not only crowned Lothaire, but invested him 
with a feudal supremacy over the lands of the Countess Matilda of 
Tuscany, belonging to the church, and also revoked the greater portion of 
the concordat entered into at his election. Lothaire' s second cam- 
paign was to avenge the pope on the Sicilian king, Roger II., who had 
been the partisan and defender of the anti-pope Anaclete, who raised 
Eoger from the rank of a duke to that of king of the Two Sicilies. Eoger 
was expelled from Lower Italy, where he had seized the principalities of 
Capua and Beneventum, and retired to Sicily. Lothaire died on his 
170 



§ 36.] conrad in. [1138 a.d. 

return from Italy to G-eraaany, in an obscure rustic cottage on the con- 
fines of Bavaria (1137). Soon after this, Roger again entered Italy, and 
subdued the duchy of Capua and the principality of Naples, thus com- 
pleting the conquest of a kingdom which remains to this day. 

In the reign of Lothaire began the rise of the house of ISran&enowrg. 
During the absence of Lothaire on his first Italian campaign, Albert (the 
Boar), son of the Count Ascania of Ballenstadt (and of the daughter of 
the Saxon duke, Magnus), rendered the emperor some important ser- 
vices, for which he was rewarded with the margraviate of North Saxony. 
In a few years, Albert, by his valour considerably extended his domi- 
nions, at the expense of the Sclaves beyond the Elbe, and gave to the 
whole the name of the March (Mark) of Brandenburg. 

§ 36. 

THE GERMAN EMPIRE UNDER THE HOUSE OE HOHEN- 

STAUEEN (OR STAUEEN), 1138—1254. 

1) Conrad in., 1138—1152. 

The sudden demise of Lothaire (without male issue) exposed 
the empire to all the horrors of a civil war. There were two 
competitors for the crown: Conrad, the duke of Franconia, 
and Henry the Proud, the possessor of two great duchies, and 
son-in-law of Lothaire. Through the interest of the Arch- 
bishop of Treves (the archbishopric of Maynz being vacant), 
no friend to the house of Saxony, Conrad was elected to the 
imperial dignity, and was immediately crowned king of the 
Romans by the papal legate, who, as the representative of 
Innocent n., attended the diet. The emperor, dreading the 
power of his rival, endeavoured to strip him of a portion of 
his possessions, and procured the sanction of a diet for the 
restoration of one of his two duchies. Henry became exas- 
perated with the proceedings of the emperor and his creatures, 
and on his condemnation being pronounced at the diet of 
Wurtzburg, he prepared for war. Saxony was conferred by 
the diet on Albert the Boar, and Bavaria was given to Leo- 
pold of Austria. Henry, however, continued to keep posses- 
sion of Saxony in spite of the emperor, but died in the midst 
of success, leaving his rights to his infant son Henry (the 
Lion), who was immediately recognised by the Saxon states. 
A prince, named Guelph, uncle of the infant Henry, espoused 
the cause of his nephew, and, assisted by the kings of Sicily 
and Hungary, expelled Leopold from Bavaria. Henry, and 
his allies, at length were driven to the strongly fortified city of 
Weinsberg, in Suabia, which, after a long siege, surrendered. 
171 1 2 



A.D. 1152.] FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. [§ 36. 

Soon after the fall of Weinsberg, Leopold died, and the war 
was concluded by the signing of a treaty. Henry received 
his patrimonial inheritance, the duchy of Saxony, in return, 
and resigned Bavaria to the Margrave of Austria. Albert of 
Saxony, who had received that province, was recompensed by 
the erection of Brandenburg to the dignity of a state, ranking 
with Suabia, Bavaria, etc. The peace of Germany having 
been established, Conrad entered upon the crusades, and on 
his return, found the empire convulsed by the ambition of the 
Guelphs, whom he soon subdued. He was preparing an ex- 
pedition to Kome, to receive the imperial crown from the 
pontiff, and to punish Roger of Sicily, who had assisted in 
fomenting the troubles of the empire, when death put an end 
to his plans (1152). 

It was during the reign of Conrad that the warcries of Or u e 1 p h and 
Ghibeline were first used ; the former being the name of the leader ; 
the latter (that of Grhiblingen) being the name of the patrimonial seat 
of the Hohenstaufen family, in Wurtemburg. These terms were first 
used at the battle of Weinsberg, and afterwards introduced into Italy, 
the Gruelphs representing the opponents, and the Grhibelines, the 
defenders of the imperial authority. 

On the surrender of Weinsberg, it was stipulated that the women of 
the besieged town might carry out with them that which they considered 
mo3t valuable, or as much as they could bear : hence, shortly after the 
stipulation had been agreed upon, the emperor was astonished and sur- 
prised by beholding the married dames and young women bearing away 
the male citizens and the soldiers of the garrison on their shoulders, and 
thus saving their lives. From this circumstance, the hill on which the 
city stands was designated " Weibertreue" (woman's fidelity), a name 
which is still preserved. 

2) Frederic (I.) Barbarossa, 1152—1190. 

The death of Conrad was preceded by that of his eldest son, 
Henry, who had been acknowledged by the states as his suc- 
cessor. His younger son, who was yet a minor, recommended 
the election of his nephew Frederick, who had already distin- 
guished himself nobly in the wars of the crusades. Besides 
being possessed of great personal valour and mental ability, 
Frederick was allied to the two houses of the Guelphs and the 
Ghibelines, which had contended with each other for the em- 
pire, and was therefore regarded as their most distinguished 
chief. To reconcile the chiefs of the two houses, he bestowed 
on Guelph of Bavaria the fiefs of the Countess Matilda of Tus- 
cany, held by the emperor as a fief of the papal see, the duchy 
of Spoleto, and the march of Ancona. Bavaria was, by the 
172 



§36.] FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. [1154 A.D. 

votes of the diet (assembled for the pacification of the empire 
and the contending vassals), taken from Leopold of Austria, 
and awarded to Henry the Lion, to whose father it had for- 
merly belonged. To indemnify Leopold for the loss of Bavaria, 
Austria was erected into a patrimonial duchy, not, however, 
raised to the dignity of the states whose dukes possessed the 
celebrated privilege of pretaxation, and were therefore styled 
elective princes, but a duchy immediately dependent upon the 
empire. The great end of Frederick was to re-establish the 
sovereign authority, which in Germany was restricted by the 
powerful vassals of the empire, and in Italy had sunk into 
perfect insignificance and contempt. The Italians he con- 
sidered in a state of revolt against the imperial throne, and 
the German nation; hence he determined to reduce them to 
subjection. For this end he entered Italy six different times 
during his short reign of thirteen years. 

First Italian Campaign (1154). — From the time of Henry 
iv., the cities and towns of Lombardy had declared themselves 
free from the jurisdiction of the imperial governors, and had 
chosen for themselves magistrates and consuls. Besides this, 
they had usurped regalian privileges, coined money, and levied 
taxes. Milan was one of the greatest of the free cities, and 
exercised dominion over many minor towns, severely punishing 
those which resisted. Lodi was destroyed, and its inhabitants 
scattered ; and Como was dismantled by the Milanese, who at 
length grew sufficiently powerful to resist even the forces of 
the emperor. Complaints against the Milane'se from Cremona 
and Pavia having reached the ears of Frederick, who was also 
informed of their treatment of the cities of Lodi and Como, he 
determined to reduce that powerful city, in particular, to 
obedience. For that purpose, accompanied by Henry, the 
duke of Bavaria, he entered Italy with a powerful army com- 
posed of Germans, and commanded the Milanese to supply 
him with provisions on the road. The army occupying two 
days in reaching a place which it was supposed they would 
arrive at in one, provisions failed; and the enraged army 
avenged themselves on the miserable inhabitants, by burn- 
ing the Milanese villages wherever there was not sufficient 
food. Chieri and Asti, two cities in the interest of the 
Milanese, were plundered and burned. Tortona, assisted 
by 200 Milanese, sustained a siege of sixty-two days, and 
surrendered only from the want of water. The emperor 
173 



A.D. 1154-8.] FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. [§ 36. 

allowed the inhabitants to retire to Milan, but the city was 
given up to fire and pillage. Frederick now entered Pavia, and 
placed on his head the iron crown of Lombardy. The Ger- 
mans, tired of the expedition, urged the emperor to avoid all 
collision with the great towns and cities, and proceed at once 
to Some, whither he had been summoned by Pope Adrian rv., 
to repress the insurrection incited by Arnold of Brescia. 
Frederick therefore passed by Milan, Placentia, Parma, Flo^- 
rence, etc., and reached the Roman territories. He was not, 
however, able to effect an entrance into the city, which was in 
the hands of the rebellious Romans, but was crowned by the 
pope, Adrian rv., in the suburbs of the Vatican, his troops, 
meanwhile, being employed in resisting the Romans, who were 
advancing to prevent the ceremony. Frederick, after his coro- 
nation, prepared for his return; and on his way, set fire to 
the cities of Spoleto, Rosati, Trecale, and Galiata, etc., which 
were totally consumed. The Milanese, however, soon rebuilt 
and garrisoned them. On the return of the emperor to Ger- 
many, his army was reduced to a mere fragment. 

On the rise of the Italian cities, the spirit of independence was shared 
by the inhabitants of Rome itself; and this was fostered by the elo- 
quent appeals of a monk, once the disciple of the renowned Abelard, 
who harangued the populace on their ancient liberties, and the abuses 
which had disgraced the Roman church. Driven from Italy by Pope 
Innocent, and the decision of the Lateran council (1139), Arnold, 
the monk of Brescia, fled to Switzerland, and under his foster- 
ing care and counsel, the town of Zurich at length possessed the exer- 
cise of a free constitution. In 1143, the Romans, who had driven the 
pope from Rome, and were seconded by the senate, recalled the monk 
Arnold to assist them. On his arrival, he exhorted them to re-establish 
the Roman republic, with its consuls ; to reinstate the equestrian order j 
and to emulate the glorious deeds of then ancestors. With the scenes 
of murder and plunder which took place, the honest monk had, proba- 
bly, nothing to do. He remained in poverty during the whole ten 
years in which Rome was in a state of anarchy. On the excommunica- 
tion of the city of Rome by Pope Adrian iv., in consequence of the 
murder of one of the cardinals, the fickle and ungrateful inhabitants, in 
order to be reconciled, agreed to exile the honest patriot, who took 
refuge among some friendly nobles in Campania. On the arrival of 
Frederick to be crowned, the pope demanded the arrest of the monk, 
which was ordered by the emperor, who caused him to be delivered into 
the hands of the prefect of Rome. By the command of the pope he was 
strangled, after which his body was burned, and the ashes thrown into 
the Tiber (1155). 

In the Second Italian Campaign (1158), Frederick, after com- 
174 



§ 36.] FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. [1158-63 A.D. 

pelling the Brescians to pay down a large sum of money, as a 
ransom, proceeded to the Milanese territories, and forced the 
militias of Lodi, Pavia, Cremona, and other Milanese towns, to 
assist him in the siege of Milan. The Milanese, after enduring 
great hardships from famine, agreed to capitulate. Part of 
their civil rights were secured to them, as well as the indepen- 
dence of the towns of Lodi, Como, Tortona, and Crema. 
Shortly after, Frederick, at a diet held at Koncaglia, overthrew 
the rights and immunities which he had granted; took from 
them the privilege of electing their own consuls ; the right of 
making private war ; and changed the boundaries of the towns, 
depriving them of the important little town of Monza, and the 
counties of Seprio and Martesana. The Milanese regarded 
these acts as violations of the treaty, and again took up arms. 
On the arrival of the Podesta, or judge appointed by the em- 
peror, at Milan, to take his seat at the tribunal, he was indig- 
nantly driven away. Frederick now placed the city under the 
ban of the empire, and resolved to destroy the rebellious city ; 
he laid waste all the produce of their fields, cutting down 
all their vine- trees, and breaking up their canals. Crema 
was first attacked, and after a siege of six months was com- 
pelled by famine to surrender. The city was given up to 
pillage, and then razed to the ground. In 1161, having re- 
ceived reinforcements from Germany, after a siege of two 
years, the Milanese surrendered at discretion, famine having 
triumphed over courage and the love of liberty. Frederick 
ordered the city to be completely evacuated, and then so com- 
pletely destroyed it, that not one stone was left upon another. 
Some of the citizens built four little towns, about two miles 
from the ruins of their ancient city, and took up their resi- 
dence in them; others of the inhabitants sought refuge in the 
neighbouring cities and towns of Italy. 

On the death of Adrian IV., the divided cardinals elected two popes, 
Alexander in., and Victor in. Frederick, perceiving the pliant disposi- 
tion of the latter, espoused his cause, and compelled Alexander to flee 
for refuge to France, although supported by nearly the whole of the 
states of Europe. Alexander, in return, excommunicated the emperor. 
On the death of Victor, Frederick nominated Paschal in. to the papal 
chair, a man less esteemed by the church than Victor. Alexander, on 
the other side, returned to Eome from France, and, forming an alliance 
with the Norman king of the Two Sicilies, armed the whole of southern 
Italy against the emperor. 

Frederick, on his third entrance into Italy (1163), was not 
175 



A.D. 1166.] FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. [§ 36. 

accompanied by an army, but by the flower of the German 
nobility. He found the cities and towns all arrayed against 
his authority, and protesting against the vexations of the 
Podestas appointed by him. The emperor attempted to raise 
the militias of the cities and towns, to put down the spirit of 
liberty which was fast spreading over the Italian territories, 
but was compelled to relinquish the attempt, and took his 
departure for Germany, to assemble his army. 

The Fourth Italian Campaign was deferred until 1166, 
when Frederick and his army marched direct upon Lodi, 
where he held a diet, and promised to redress the grievances 
of the citizens of Upper Italy, arising from the iniquitous 
conduct of his Podestas. Marching his army into Central 
Italy, he took eighty hostages from the Bolognese, as a se- 
curity for their fidelity, and laid siege to Ancona, but was 
soon compelled to abandon it, and proceed to Rome. The 
Romans awaited the arrival of the Germans in the open 
field, and after a dreadful conflict, were compelled to re- 
treat, and yield up the city to the emperor. Alexander 
fled, when the Romans acknowledged the antipope, Paschal 
in., and took the oath of fidelity to Frederick, who, with 
his consort, was crowned in the basilica of the Vatican. 
During the celebration of the coronation festivals, a pesti- 
lence, arising from the heat of the Campagna, broke out, 
carrying off, in a few days, many of the princes, with 2,000 
knights, and a still greater number of the common soldiers of 
the German army. This disaster compelled the departure of 
the emperor, whose track was marked by the vast graves 
which were dug for the reception of the dead. He passed 
the winter in Lombardy, combating, with the remnant of his 
army, the militias raised by the refractory members of the 
league. Unable to vanquish them, he repassed Mont Cenis, 
on the Alps, to Germany. Frederick, after his departure, sent 
the warlike prelate, the Archbishop of Maynz, into Italy, as 
his representative. On his arrival, he threw the consuls of 
the Pisans and the Florentines into prison, and prevailed on 
several towns to assist him in attacking the powerful city of 
Ancona. The inhabitants withstood the besiegers until all 
human subsistence was exhausted, and refused every offer to 
capitulate. The timely arrival of succour from the league, 
delivered the brave defenders; and the archbishop and his 
army, worn out by a long siege, beat a hasty retreat, 
176 



§ 36.] FREDERICK BARBAROSSA. [1167-76 A.D. 

During the reverses of the emperor, and the schism which had arisen 
in the Homish church, the towns of the Veronese marches, in connection 
with the principal cities of Lombardy, formed themselves into a solemn 
league for the recovery of the common liberty. This confederation, 
represented by the consuls of the various cities, was named the Leagxie 
of Lombardy, and was to last for twenty years. The members of it 
agreed that they should all act in common to assist each other, and to 
repair any damage that might be sustained in the sacred cause of liberty. 
One of the first acts of the league was the resolution to rebuild the city 
of Milan, winch soon rose from its ruins, and was again in a condition 
to repel the attacks of the emperor (1167). The city of Lodi, in the 
interest of the emperor, was compelled by force of arms to join the 
league ; but the "Venetian towns of Placentia, Parma, Modena, and 
Bologna, voluntarily joined the confederation. In 1168, the league was 
further strengthened by the accession of JNovara, YercelH, Como, Asti, 
Tortona, and the city of Alessandria (Delia Paglia — city of straw), 
built by the league on the confluence of the rivers Tanaro and Bormida, 
against the powerful Marquis of Montferrat and the Pavians. 

The Fifth Italian Campaign of Frederick took place 1174 — 
1178, when, at the head of a formidable army, he passed into 
Savoy, and over Mont Cenis into Lombardy. Here, near 
Como, he was met by his powerful vassal Henry the Lion, 
who, however, refused to furnish his contingent of troops, and 
finally left the emperor to himself. Frederick, however, con- 
fidently pursued his way; Suza was taken and burned, and 
Asti agreed to the payment of a heavy tribute; but Alessan- 
dria, the city of mud and straw, succeeded for a while in 
checking his career. Frederick, for four months, with his 
army, sat down before the city; but on the arrival of the 
combined army of the league from Placentia, the emperor and 
his troops were compelled to raise the siege, and take the road 
to Pavia. Frederick and the Lombard chiefs now negotiated 
for peace, which was broken off in consequence of the impe- 
rious demands of Frederick. In 1176, having received re- 
inforcements from Germany, he entered the Milanese territory, 
and met the Lombard army between Lignano and Barano. The 
onset of the Germans was terrific, and the Milanese gave way. 
The heroism and bravery of the " Band of Death," consisting 
of 900 brave young men, however, inspired the drooping 
courage of the army, and it advanced against the Germans 
with such indomitable courage, that their ranks were broken, 
and the whole army put to flight. Their camp was pillaged, 
and Frederick, separated from his troops, was compelled to 
pursue the way to Pavia as he best could. This defeat at 
Lignano led to a treaty of peace between the emperor and the 
177 1 3 



A.D. 1176-8.] FREDERICK BARBAR0S3A. [§36. 

pope, and the Italians of Lombardy met to conclude a peace ; 
but after long and vain attempts, a truce of six years only 
was agreed upon, during which the rights of each were to 
remain in suspense. On the conclusion of this armistice, a 
peace was signed at Constance, where Frederick assembled the 
diet, and renounced all regal rights to the internal government 
of fehe towns, and allowed the cities to confederate, raise 
armies, and appoint their own consuls, etc. The citizens, on 
their part, engaged to maintain the just demands of the em- 
peror, which were at any time to be redeemable by the annual 
payment of 2,000 silver marks. 

On the emperor's return to Germany, Frederick caused 
Henry the Lion, who had declined to accompany him in his 
fifth Italian campaign, to be summoned before three consecu- 
tive diets ; but he refused to obey the citation. The diet 
assembled at Wurtzburg declared him guilty of high treason, 
and deprived him of his vast estates, which were by subse- 
quent diets thus distributed: — Saxony was given to Count 
Bernard of Anhalt, the second son of Albert the Boar ; West- 
phalia and Angrivaria were conferred on the Archbishop of 
Cologne; Holstein was subjected to the empire; Bavaria was 
restored to the family of Arnulf the Bad, from whom it had 
been wrested by Otho I., and was conferred on Otho of Wittel- 
spach; Lubeck and Ratisbon were raised to the rank of im- 
perial cities; Eichsfeldt was presented to the Archbishop of 
Maynz ; Styria and the Tyrol were made dependencies of the 
empire, instead of remaining attached to the duchy of Bavaria ; 
while the bishoprics founded by Henry in Mecklenburg and 
Pomerania were erected into principalities of the empire. 
The remaining territories of this powerful vassal were dis- 
tributed among the archbishops of Bremen and Magdeburg, 
and Duke Bernard of Anhault. Henry the Lion, however, 
still refused to submit, and took up arms. For three years 
he struggled against the combined forces of the empire, but at 
length sued for pardon, which was only granted on the con- 
dition of three years' absence from Germany. Henry agreed 
to the terms, and retired to the court of his father-in-law, 
Henry u. of England. On the expiration of the term, he was 
allowed to return, and Frederick procured for him the restora- 
tion of the duchies of Brunswick and Lunenburg. 

Frederick, having held a brilliant diet at Maynz, declared 
his two sons, Henry and Frederick, capable of bearing arms, 
178 



§ 36.] HENRY VI. [1190-7 A.D. 

and appeared, for the sixth time, in Italy, where lie was every- 
where received with the most distinguished honours, and 
the greatest enthusiasm. On his arrival at Milan (recently 
rebuilt by the Lombard league), he celebrated the nuptials of 
his son Henry with Constanza, the heiress of the Two Sicilies, 
by which that kingdom was brought into his family. (For an 
account of his crusade and death, see the Third Crusade, 
page 154. 

3) Henry vi., 1190—1197. 

Henry vi. had been elected king of the Romans, and had 
governed the empire as regent during his father's absence in 
the crusades ; hence there was no public recognition of him by 
the princes of the empire, to the crown of which he came as 
by hereditary right. On receiving intelligence of the death 
of his father-in-law, William n. of Naples and Sicily, he 
hastened into Lower Italy, to secure the inheritance of his 
consort, which the Sicilians, who detested the supremacy of 
the Germans, had bestowed upon a bastard of the race of 
Norman kings, named Tancred. Henry having been crowned 
at Rome, advanced to Naples, which was bravely defended by 
Tancred, who resisted all the efforts of Henry to gain posses- 
sion of the kingdom. A mortality breaking out among his 
troops, he was compelled to retrace his steps, a proceeding 
rendered more necessary by the news of his brothers death, 
and the rebellion of Henry the Lion, which, however, was soon 
quelled on his return. With the proceeds of the ransom of 
Richard Coeur de Lion, he was enabled to undertake a second 
expedition into Italy, where, on his arrival (Tancred having 
died, 1194), the citizens of the chief towns opened their gates 
for his reception. Henry entered the kingdom as a conqueror, 
and under the pretext of the discovery of a conspiracy, he 
committed the most violent acts of cruelty upon the inhabi- 
tants. The chief of the clergy and the nobility were either 
hanged or burned, while William, the son and successor of 
Tancred, had his eyes put out, and was otherwise mutilated. 
These acts of cruelty, coupled with the ungenerous retention 
of Richard as a prisoner, brought down upon him the ven- 
geance of the pope, who excommunicated him. The chief aim 
of Henry, on his return from Italy, was to secure the here- 
ditary descent of the crown in his family ; and for this purpose 
he had gained over many of the princes of the empire. To 
obtain the consent of the electoral states, he offered to incor- 
179 



A.D. 1198-1208 A.D.] PHILIP OF SUABIA. [§ 36. 

porate his kingdoms of Naples and Sicily with the empire, and 
to render the allodes and fiefs of the vassals hereditary in their 
families. In this he failed, through the opposition of the 
Archbishop of Maynz and the house of Saxony ; but he suc- 
ceeded in obtaining for his infant son, Frederick, the crown of 
Rome. In 1197, Henry resolved to undertake a crusade 
against the Mohammedans of Byzantium, and was on his way, 
when he suddenly died at Messina, to the great joy of his 
Italian subjects, whom he ruled with great barbarity. 

4) Philip of Suabia, 1198—1208; and Otho iv., 
1198—1215. 

On the death of Henry vi., the two factions in Germany 
at the same time raised to the empire the two chiefs of the 
houses of Guelph and Ghibeline : Philip, duke of Suabia, who 
ruled as regent for the young prince, to whom he was uncle ; 
and Otho, duke of Bavaria and Saxony, son of Henry the 
Lion, who was supported by his uncle, Richard Coeur de Lion. 
The latter submitted the election to the pope for his decision, 
who, after vainly endeavouring to reconcile the rival factions, 
pronounced in favour of Otho; Philip being inimical to the 
church of Rome, whose ecclesiastical states in Tuscany (the 
allodes of the Countess of Matilda) he refused to resign. The 
king of Bohemia, and the Danish king, joined Otho against 
Philip, who was powerfully opposed also by the Archbishop of 
Cologne. Success, however, crowned the efforts of Philip, and 
in 1204, he was crowned by the Archbishop of Cologne, and 
even acknowledged by pope Innocent in. Otho still main- 
tained the war, and fled to Cologne, from which place he nar- 
rowly escaped with his life, and took shelter in his hereditary 
duchy of Brunswick, to the limits of which he was restricted. 
At length, a truce of nine months was agreed to; but just 
before its expiration, Philip, who had gathered a large army 
together, to decide the contest between, them, fell by the hand 
of Otho of Wittelspach, to whom he had promised his daughter 
in marriage, but had refused to fulfil the engagement, in con- 
sequence of the crime of murder which was laid to his charge 
(1208). 

The princes, wearied with the war, agreed to unite under 
Otho iv., who was therefore crowned anew at Aix-la-Chapelle. 
He was, however, obliged to swear that he would not take any 
steps to render the crown hereditary in his family, and that 
he would abolish the Roman laws throughout the empire, and 
180 



§ 36.] FREDERICK II. [1209-22 A.D. 

re-establish the provincial codes issued by Charlemagne. At 
the same diet, the ban of the empire was proclaimed against 
Otho of Wittelspach, who was degraded from his honours, and 
condemned to death. He was overtaken on the banks of the 
Danube, and slain by the hereditary marshal of the empire, to 
whom the execution of the sentence had been intrusted. To 
unite the two houses of Guelph and Ghibeline, Otho resolved 
upon a marriage with Beatrix, the daughter of Philip ; and on 
his arrival shortly after in Eome, received the imperial crown 
from the hands of pope Innocent in., on which occasion the 
pope demanded the restoration of the Tuscan lands, and a 
promise not to interfere with his young ward, the king of 
Sicily, who reigned under his tutelage. The non-fulfilment of 
these demands on the part of Otho, who proceeded to drive 
out the papal troops from Apulia and Calabria, and claimed 
from the pope a revocation of the concordat of 1122, by which 
the terms of investiture were settled, led the sovereign pontiff 
to excommunicate him, and to set up the young king of Sicily, 
the representative heir of the Ghibeline faction, as emperor in 
his place. Frederick, after many hair-breadth escapes in 
Lombardy, where the Guelphs were strong, and had possession 
of the passes of the Alps, reached Aix-la-Chapelle (1212), 
where the German Ghibelines were assembled to receive him, 
and was crowned king of Rome and Germany. In the mean- 
while, Otho had passed over from Italy into Germany; and 
although he was powerfully supported by the Lombards and 
Saxons, yet was he not in a position to stand against the com- 
bined forces of the princes of the empire, whom Frederick had 
by degrees drawn over to his cause. The Lombard city of 
Milan, which fought against Frederick, was excommunicated 
by the pope ; and this operated as a terror to the rest, in addi- 
tion to which, Otho had, with his ally, John of England, been 
defeated at Bouvines by Philip Augustus. Otho therefore 
thought it prudent to withdraw from the contest. He accord- 
ingly retired to his hereditary duchy of Brunswick, where he 
died in the Harzburg, 1213. 

5) Frederick u., 1215—1250. 

Frederick, on his accession to the German throne, continued 
to enjoy the favour of the pope, who had sustained him in his 
kingdom of Sicily. Honorius, however, did not forget the 
interests of the papal see, but wrung from the docile emperor 
such concessions as his predecessors had altogether repudiated. 
181 



A.D. 1222-30.] FREDERICK II. [§ 36. 

He obtained from Frederick the renunciation of all right to 
interfere in the elections of the church dignitaries, the surrender 
of the Tuscan lands of the Countess Matilda, and the resig- 
nation of all claim to the personal property of deceased prelates. 
On the occasion of his coronation at Maynz, 1222, Frederick 
further agreed not to unite the crowns of Sicily and Germany, 
and resigned the former in favour of his son Henry; he also 
agreed to take up the badge of the cross against the infidels. 
This latter promise, however, Frederick repeatedly refused to 
fulfil, and occupied himself in securing the hereditary descent 
of his patrimonial and other estates, the affairs of which had 
fallen into disorder. Frederick, who had already procured the 
crown of Italy for his son Henry, also king of Sicily, next 
proceeded to nominate him heir to the German crown, and to 
fix the seat of his power in Italy ; for this purpose he bestowed 
imperial rights upon the German and Italian nobility, who 
were favourable to his projects. Gregory ix., who had suc- 
ceeded to the papal throne, a most rigid and talented pontiff, 
insisted upon the performance of his promise respecting the 
crusade, which, to induce him to undertake, the late pope had 
caused him to marry the daughter of the king of Jerusalem 
(for an account of his crusades, see p. 155). In 1229, 
Frederick departed almost alone, and obtained by treaty with 
the sultan of Egypt that which the united arms of Europe 
had failed to procure. On his return, 1230, he found that 
the ancient league of Lombardy, which had been renewed 
(1226) for the purpose of defending in concert their own 
interests, and the liberties and the independence of the papal 
see, was arrayed against him, and that his Italian dominions 
had been invaded by the papal troops, in revenge for an inroad 
made upon his territories by the imperial governor, the Duke of 
Spoleto. Frederick soon drove out his enemies from Lower 
Italy; and shortly after, through the intercession of Herman 
of Salza, a peace was concluded at Paquara, 1230, in which 
also the Lombarclian cities which had joined the league were 
included. 

Frederick, who made no attempts to disturb the rights of the 
Lombard cities, was not, however, disposed to allow them, in 
conjunction with the pope, to be the enemies of the empire ; he 
therefore raised a large army, consisting of upwards of 30,000 
Mussulmen, which he placed in Lower Italy ; these troops, which 
Frederick obtained from Sicily, he at length drew towards Lom- 
182 



§ 36.] FREDERICK II. [1231-43 A.D. 

bardy, with the intention of attacking them from the south, but 
the pope, who had not been idle, by his agents stirred up the 
Guelphs of Germany against him, and even induced the son of 
Frederick to rebel against his father. The young prince was 
crowned king of Germany, and proceeded to Milan, to receive 
the iron crown of Lombardy, offered to him by the Milanese. 
Frederick, on hearing of this defection, hastened into Germany, 
and summoned his son to Worms, who threw himself at 
the feet of the emperor, and pleaded earnestly for pardon; 
Frederick banished him to Apulia, where he died a few years 
after. The rebellion in Germany occupied two years in sub- 
duing; at the expiration of that period Frederick, with 3,000 
Germans, advanced into Italy against the senate of Verona. 
At the request of Frederick, Eccelino was appointed imperial 
governor, and intrusted with the command of the army. 
Frederick then left Lombardy for Germany, where fresh 
troubles had arisen, but soon returned, and appeared before 
Mantua, where he was joined by 10,000 Saracens. After 
skilfully manosuvring his troops, Frederick placed himself 
between the Milanese and their territories. Retreat being cut 
off, the two armies met at Cortenuovo, near Crema, where 
the Milanese were defeated, with the loss of above 10,000 men, 
and the sacred carroccio (car). The towns of Lombardy now 
began to withdraw their opposition to the emperor ; Milan, 
Brescia, Placentia, and Bologna, only remained on the side of the 
papal or Guelphic party. Frederick was now once more master 
of the Two Sicilies, Germany (and Lombardy, with but little 
exception). Gregory redoubled his efforts to save the Guelphs, 
and procured the assistance of the maritime republics of Venice 
and Genoa, who joined the four cities of Lombardy which yet 
refused to yield to the emperor. Frederick was again excom- 
municated by the pope, whose anathemas caused many of the 
nobles to withdraw their support from him. In 1241, a 
general council of all the prelates of Christendom was sum- 
moned, to give weight to the authority of the pope. The 
Pisans, who had espoused the party of Frederick, in some 
measure prevented this, by attacking the Genoese fleet off 
Melloria, which had the French prelates on board. After 
sinking three ships, and capturing nearly twenty, they seized the 
ecclesiastics, and conveyed them to Pisa; this disastrous reverse 
had such an effect upon the mind of Gregory, whose ambitious 
spirit had been so often disappointed, that he died a few 
183 



A.D. 1243-50.] FREDERICK II. [§ 36. 

months after, (1241,) when for two years the papal see was left 
without a head. In 1243, Innocent iv. was elected to the 
papal chair, and proceeded against Frederick more vigorously 
than his predecessor ; he brought over the Lombards to his 
side, and stirred up the Guelphs of Genoa and Piedmont against 
him. The next step taken by Innocent was the summoning toge- 
ther an oecumenic council, for the purpose of procuring the con- 
demnation and deposition of Frederick. To secure this, the 
council was fixed to be held at Lyons, and the pope himself 
was to be present at its proceedings ; at the third sitting of the 
council the deposition of the emperor took place, and. the pains 
of excommunication pronounced against any of his subjects 
who should obey him ; the electoral princes were commanded 
to select another emperor for Germany, while the pope reserved 
for himself the appointment of the king of the Two Sicilies. 
Insurrections were stirred up by the monks and friars, and 
even the private friends of Frederick urged to rid the church of 
its great enemy by assassination. Many plots were brought to 
light, and frequent executions took place in consequence. The 
emperor confided the government of Germany to his son Conrad, 
and proceeded into Lombardy, the cities of which had revolted 
in consequence of the atrocities committed by the imperial 
lieutenant, Eccelino. The emperor endeavoured to procure a 
reconciliation with the church, against the anathemas of which 
he had to struggle, and procured the mediation of Louis the 
Pious for that purpose ; the pope, however, refused to listen to 
any proposals, and actively supported the rival kings of Ger- 
many and the Two Sicilies against Conrad and the emperor; 
and to strengthen his party, used every effort to hinder the 
departure of troops for the rescue of the Holy Land. 

The revolt of Parma (1247) compelled Frederick again to 
take up arms, but the papal party triumphed, and took posses- 
sion of the city ; Frederick once more employed the Saracens of 
Lower Italy, and gathered under his sons Hans, or Ensius, the 
king of Sardinia, and Frederick, king of Antioch, and his lieute- 
nant, Eccelino, a large army, with which he appeared before the 
walls of the city. The Guelphs, or papal party, assembled all 
the troops in their power to assist the besiegers, and were suc- 
cessful against the emperor's ilrmy, which was surprised, and 
compelled to raise the siege, while the emperor and his suite 
were absent. Frederick retired to the Sicilies, and gave the 
command of Lombardy to Ensius, who, after losing one city 
184 



§ 36.] CONRAD IV. WILLIAM. [1249-54 A.D. 

after another, was at length taken prisoner at the great battle 
ofFossalta (1249). Frederick, now advanced in years, was 
completely worn out by the frequent defection of his friends, and 
the continued opposition of the papal or Guelphic party in Ger- 
many against his son Conrad. In 1250, he once more engaged" 
the good offices of Louis, just returned from a crusade, in 
endeavouring to procure the reconciliation of the church ; but 
while waiting anxiously for the result, he was seized with 
illness, and expired, at Firenzuola, near Luceia, after having 
received absolution from the archbishop of Tarento. 

In 1246, Russia, Poland, and Hungary were overrun by the Tartars, 
who ravaged all the countries they passed through ; on their arrival in 
Silesia they defeated the duke of that province, and his allies, with great 
slaughter,' on a plain still termed the Wahlstatt, or the battle 
field. They then advanced through Moravia, and would have devas- 
tated the whole of Europe, had not the news of the death of their great 
khan rendered then* presence in Asia necessary. 

On the deposition of Frederick and Conrad at the council of St. Just 
(Lyons), the ecclesiastical dignitaries elected Henry Raspe, the 
landgrave of Thuringia (1246), named the Parson King, 
from the fact that the secular princes had no part in the election. On 
his being slain near Ulm in a conflict with the Saxons, after offering the 
dignity to several nobles, who declined the honour, the three archbishops 
of the empire offered it to Count William of Holland, who 
accepted it, and obtained the support of the king of Bohemia, whose 
united armies were employed against Conrad, until the death of 
Frederick. 

6) Conrad iv., 1250—1254. William, until 
1256. 

Conrad, although recognised by the Ghibelines, had still 
to oppose his rival, William, who was supported by the church ; 
but as he preferred the crown of Sicily to that of Germany, he 
embarked from one of the ports of Istria for Naples, to secure 
Apulia, which was still in the hands of Manfred, who had 
possessed himself of it in the lifetime of Frederick, and refused 
to resign it. On his arrival he was opposed by Manfred and 
the Neapolitan Guelphs, against whom he carried on the war 
with varied success for three years, when he suddenly died, at 
Novello, leaving his son Conradin (Conrad v.), the young 
prince of the Two Sicilies, to succeed him in the crown of 
Germany (1254). 

On the departure of Conrad for Italy, the cause of 
William was strengthened by the accession of the nobles 
of Franconia and Suabia, who, on the death of Conrad, be- 
185 



A.D. 1256.] CONRAD IV. — 'WILLIAM. [§ 36. 

came independent patrimonial proprietors. With the death 
of Conradin the house of Hohenstaufen became extinct, and 
William was left in undisturbed possession of the throne of 
Germany. For ten years he struggled against the Ghibelines, 
and the other factions which the absence of the emperor in 
Italy had given rise to. At length he met his death in West 
Friesland, where he endeavoured to raise funds by means of 
a tribute; having entered a frozen morass which his horse 
could not penetrate, he was slain by some Frieslanders, who 
were ignorant of his high rank and dignity (1256). 

During the reign of William, he gave the imperial sanction to a 
confederacy formed by some of the principal cities and towns on the 
Rhine, for the mutual protection of their commercial rights and 
privileges, rendered insecure in consequence of the anarchy which, 
pervaded the empire. This Rhenish confederacy comprised the cities 
of Maynz, Cologne, Worms, Spires, Strasburg, and Berlin ; subsequently, 
the Hanseatic League was formed for a similar purpose. 

On the extinction of the house of Hohenstaufen, a vacancy arose in 
the duchies of Suabia and Franconia, the different secular and ecclesi- 
astical vassals of which now seized the opportunity of rendering 
themselves independent patrimonial proprietors. A number of cities 
and towns, also the property of the ancient dukes of this house, 
were raised to the rank of free and imperial cities. Baden, Wurtem- 
burg, Hohen-Zolleriij Furstenburg, etc., all date their rise from this 
period. 



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a.d. 1257-73, 1130-94.] the two Sicilies. [§§ 37, 38. 

§37. 

THE INTEKREGNUM IN GERMANY, 1257—1273. 

The jealousy of the princes was too great to allow of the 
crown being worn by one of their own body, and the pope, 
Alexander iv., had threatened to excommunicate any prince 
who should attempt the election of Conradin. Consequently, 
the electoral princes resolved to bestow the dignity upon 
some foreign prince, who, having wealth sufficient to support 
the splendour of the sovereignty, and not possessing any 
territories within the empire, should be without inducement 
to curtail their liberties. The ecclesiastical party elected the 
Earl of Cornwall, while the opposite faction elected Alphonso, 
the king of Castile, both of whom distributed large sums 
of money among the venal ecclesiastical and temporal 
nobility, in order to secure their election. This double 
election protracted the civil wars of the empire, for although 
Richard was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle, and afterwards 
acknowledged by the pope, yet the partisans of Alphonso con- 
tinued to oppose him so long as the latter had funds to re- 
pay them for their services. Richard resided in Germany 
four separate times during his reign of fifteen years (1257), 
but the greater portion of his time was spent in England, 
where he assisted his brother, Henry in., in resisting the 
encroachments of the barons. In 1272, Richard died, and 
in the following year the Diet of Election was assembled at 
Frankfort, when, among other candidates, Alphonso, who had 
never set foot upon the German territories, preferred his claim 
to the throne. To the astonishment of Europe, Rodolph, the 
count of Hapsburg, was chosen, through the interests of the 
three electoral prelates of the empire, and the dukes of 
Bavaria, Saxony, etc., to whom he promised his daughters in 
marriage. 

§38. 
THE KINGDOM OF THE TWO SICILIES, 1130—1282. 

a) Under the Normans (1130 — 1194). Roger n., 
founder of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies (see § 25, d), 
was succeeded by William n., the supporter of pope Alex- 
ander in. against the emperor Frederick Barbarossa. On the 
death of William, the kingdom passed to the house of Ho- 
188 



§ 38.] THE TWO SICILIES. [1194-1264 A.D. 

henstanfen, by the marriage of Henry vi. with the daughter 
of Eoger n., the aunt of William n. Upon his death, the 
throne was usurped for five years by an illegitimate son 
of Eoger il, named Tancred, and his son and successor, 
William in. 

b) Under the Hohenstaufens (1194—1266). 
Henry I. (vi.) was succeeded by his son, Frederick I. (il), 
a child of three years old, whom the pope took under his 
guardianship, and set up in opposition to his father, in 
Germany. During the reign of Frederick, the royal residence 
was removed from Palermo to Naples, where the Italian 
language was spoken at his court. He also erected a 
university, founded schools, built splendid palaces, and en- 
couraged commerce and manufactures. He also . issued, for 
the benefit of his Italian subjects, a new code of laws (like 
those promulgated by Justinian), formed from the laws and 
customs of the ancient Normans, which however were not 
abolished on the introduction of the new code, but to 
continue in force as before. By this code the royal power 
was rendered more secure, by the limitation of that which was 
exercised in the courts of justice held by the feudal nobles 
in their respective territories. Frederick was succeeded by 
Conrad iv., who died • suddenly, probably from poison, leaving 
behind him an infant son, Conradin, who was placed under 
the guardianship of his uncle, Manfred. In 1258, Manfred, 
determined no longer to be the tool of the pope as the guardian 
of Conradin, wrested the throne out of the hands of the young 
prince, and took upon himself the royal dignity; he was 
crowned at Palermo, in 1258. The pope, who had wrested 
the crown of the Two Sicilies from Frederick il, used every 
effort to render it a temporal fief; he was therefore amazed 
when he saw the hero Manfred firmly established in the 
sovereignty, and gaining also a considerable footing in the 
Italian peninsula. Unable to resist his victorious career, 
Urban iv. armed the French against him, and Alexander iv., 
his successor, even offered the crown to Edmund, the son of 
Henry in. of England, but he refused to lend his assistance; 
he also endeavoured to persuade Lords of France to aid him in 
his designs, but to no purpose. The more powerful Count 
of Anjou, and his ambitious consort, however, agreed at 
once to the terms offered by the pope, and invaded Sicily with 
an army of 30,000 men, and 1,000 knights, who marched 
189 



A.D. 1265-85.] THE TWO SICILIES. [§ 38. 

under the banners of the cross, and of Charles. Clement, who 
had succeeded to the papal chair, invested him with the 
sovereignty, on condition that the crown should never be 
united to that of the empire, or to the kingdoms of Lombardy 
and Tuscany. 8,000 ounces of gold, and a white palfrey, 
were to be the annual tribute. In 1265, Charles met Manfred 
on the plain of Grandella, near Beneventum, where, after a long 
and sanguinary contest, Manfred perished, and Charles and the 
Guelphs obtained the ascendency in Italy. 

c) Under the House of Anjou (1266—1282). 
After the conflict at Grandella, the German garrison was 
driven out of Italy, and its place occupied by the French. 
In 1267, on the invitation of the Ghibeline nobles, the young 
Conradin appeared in Upper Italy, with an army of 10,000 
cavalry, which was joined by the militias of the Ghibeline 
republics; he encountered Charles in the plain of Tagli- 
acozzo, where a desperate battle ensued, which terminated in 
the defeat and capture of Conradin, who was beheaded, by 
the order of his ruthless conqueror, in the market place at 
Naples, with several of the German and Italian nobility. On 
the scaffold he nominated Peter in. of Arragon, the son-in-law 
of Manfred, to the vacant crown. Charles proceeded to abolish 
the assemblies of the states, and distributed among the French, 
his followers, all the great fiefs of the kingdom, while he ruled 
the Italians and the Sicilians as with a rod of iron, oppressed 
them with intolerable burdens, in which he was aided by 
a pope of his own creating, Martin iv. (1281), who expelled 
all the Ghibelines from the cities, and conferred the govern- 
ment of the papal states upon French officers. A sudden 
explosion of popular feeling, however, delivered the kingdom 
from the tyranny of Charles, and the lieutenants of the pope. 
A French soldier having rudely insulted a young bride as she 
was on her way to the church of Montreal to receive the nup- 
tial blessing, the news of the outrage spread throughout the 
city of Palermo, just as the bells of the various churches were 
ringing for vespers. The people ran through the streets, 
shouting, "To arms — death to the French;" and in a few 
hours, upwards of 4,000 were massacred in the city of Palermo 
alone, while other cities following the example thus set them, 
delivered the kingdom from the insolence and tyranny of 
Charles, who survived the catastrophe only three years. He 
expired on 7th January, 1285, leaving his son, Charles n., a 
190 



§ 39.] louis vi., vn., vni., ix. — philip n. [1108-1288 a.d. 

prisoner in the hands of the Sicilians. In 1288, Naples and 
Sicily were formed into two distinct kingdoms. Charles n., 
the first king of Naples, was liberated, and Peter of Arragon 
received the crown of Sicily, agreeably to the bequest of Con- 
radin. 

§39. 

FKANCE, 1108—1270. 

Louis vi. and vn. Philip n. Louis vni. 
and ix. (the Saint). 

I. Territorial States (Notice of). The whole of 
western France, from the coasts washed by the channel 
(English Channel) in the north, to the Pyrenees in the south, 
during the reign of Louis vn., came under the dominion of the 
English kings of the house of Plantagenet, to which 
house belonged, as hereditary domains, Anjou, Touraine, and 
Maine; also, as heirs of the Norman kings of England, the 
duchy of Normandy, and Bretagne (as a feudal fief); by 
marriage, Aquitaine and Gascogne also belonged to the 
English. The kings of Arragon took possession of the extreme 
southern portion of France ; while the counts of Champagne 
and Flanders, and the dukes of Burgundy maintained them- 
selves as petty sovereigns in their respective territories. The 
immediate royal domains of the Capetians were 
very inconsiderable, and consisted only of the Franconian duchy, 
anciently possessed by the Carlovingians, and extending along 
the Oise and central Seine as far as the Loire. The French 
kings, therefore, endeavoured to reduce the power of the great 
feudatories, who had possessed themselves of the finest pro- 
vinces of the kingdom, and to re-unite the former 
crown lands. Philip il, surnamed Augustus, was the 
great restorer of the lost glory of the French monarchy. He 
humbled all the greater vassals, and by seduction and artifice, 
rather than by valour in the field, contrived to wrest all the 
French lands from the English, with the exception of Guienne. 
Louis vni., by his wars against the Albigenses, added con- 
siderably to the royal domains, while Louis ix., by the mar- 
riage of his brother to the daughter of the Count of Toulouse, 
brought the whole of the territorial possessions of the count 
eventually to the crown. 

Louis, first called the Wakeful, and afterwards, 
the Fat (vi.), was the first monarch of France to re- 
191 



a.d. 1109-37.] louis vi., vh. [§ 39. 

duce government to a system, or to act upon any settled 
rules of policy. On his accession France was in the hands 
of feudal chiefs, constantly engaged in war one with the 
other, and committing the most atrocious robberies upon the 
church, while even merchants and travellers were not safe in 
passing along the borders of their domains. Against such 
lawless nobles Louis successfully contended ; and the barons of 
Montlheri, Couci, and Montmorency, nearest to the capital, 
and probably the most rapacious of the whole, were subdued. 
Hence the royal domains were freed from spoliation, and the 
roads to Paris and Orleans laid open to the free exercise of 
trade and commerce. The name of Louis is however also con- 
nected with the liberty of the subject. It was in his reign 
that the abolition of serfdom, or the enfranchisement % of the 
communes (municipal corporations, guilds, or fraternities), 
took place. He also granted extensive privileges by charters 
to the various towns and cities ; this tended to the elevation 
of the tiers etat, or third estate, and served considerably to 
strengthen the royal authority. In 1109, on the refusal of 
Henry I. of England to destroy the castle of Gisors, the 
frontier port of France and Normandy, which had been 
mutually agreed upon, whenever the neutral baron should 
resign it, a war broke out, marked by the most cruel 
atrocities. Louis was not, however, able to obtain possession of 
the duchy, which, on the death of Henry I., was contended 
for by Maude, the sister of Henry, and Stephen, the usurper 
of the English throne. In 1137, Louis vr. died, and was 
succeeded by his son, Louis vn., who had just married the 
daughter of the Count of Poitou, whose dowry embraced all 
the lands lying between the Adour and the Loire. Louis vil, 
during the first years of his reign, was engaged in disputing 
with the pope, who laid France under an interdict. These 
disputes were further widened by his base conduct towards 
the Count of Champagne, whose daughter he caused to be 
repudiated, in order that her husband, a kinsman of Louis, 
might marry the sister of Eleanor, the queen, and so prevent 
the division of their landed inheritance. During the war, a 
church in which hundreds of the inhabitants sought refuge, 
was set fire to, when they all perished. The heart of the king 
was now seized with remorse, and he sought the absolution of 
the church, to which he now humbly resigned himself. 
Urged by the Abbot Bernard, of Clairvaux, to undertake the 
192 



§ 39.] philip (the august.) [1180-1206 a.d. 

cross, he at once agreed to take part in the second crusade, 
the money for which was chiefly obtained by the sale of 
privileges to the communes (burghers), and by subsidies levied 
upon the convents. During his absence, the affairs of his 
kingdom were placed • in the hands of the Abbot Jager, of 
St. Denis. On the return of Louis to his discontented people, 
after the birth of a second princess, the queen Eleanor was di- 
vorced, and subsequently united to Henry Plantagenet, who by 
the alliance added Aquitaine and Poitou to his paternal inheri- 
tance of Normandy. From hence dates the rivalry between the 
kings of France and England. Louis died 1180, and was suc- 
ceeded by his son Philip, styled Dieu donne (the August), 
who shortly after his accession, entered upon the crusades, in 
company with Richard Coeur de Lion. The two mo- 
narchs passed the winter in Sicily, where the beginning of 
their future jealousy took place. Philip, on his rettrrn to 
France, attacked the English provinces, and Richard, after his 
escape from captivity, entered France to defend them. He was 
however pierced by an arrow as he entered the dominions, and 
left the defence of the provinces to his base successor, King 
John (surnamed Lackland). In the beginning of the war, 
the nephew of John, Arthur of Brittany, whom Philip stirred up 
to lay claim to the greater portion of the English territories, 
fell into the hands of his uncle, and was cruelly murdered by 
him; for this and other cruel acts, he was cited before 
the chamber of peers at Paris, but John, although he allowed 
the jurisdiction of the court, refused to appear; he was 
therefore stripped of all his French possessions, excepting 
the duchy of Guienne. In 1203, Touraine, Maine, and Anjou, 
were annexed to the crown; the duchy of Normandy in 1205, 
and the county of Poitou in 1206. About this period, the 
aristocracy was divided into the higher and lower nobility, 
and petty lords no longer ranked as the great dukes and counts : 
hence the order of the "pairs de Franc e," of which six 
were laics and six clerics. The six temporal, or laics, were the 
dukes of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Burgundy, the counts of 
Toulouse, Flanders, and Champagne; the clerics, or spiritual 
peers, were to consist of the Archbishop of Rheims, and five 
bishops. John next quarrelled with the pope, who claimed 
the nomination of the archbishopric of Canterbury, when 
England was placed under an interdict, and two years after 
John himself was excommunicated. The pope, to humble the 
193 k 



A.D. 1206-14.] PHILIP WARS WITH ENGLAND. [§ 39. 

power of the king, who still retained his firmness, proposed to 
Philip of France the absolution of his sins, and the kingdom 
of England, provided he would rid the church of such an 
oppressor. Philip, therefore, leagued with the disaffected 
barons, and assembled a large army for the purpose of 
invasion. John now implored the protection of Rome, when 
the papal legate, under the plausible pretext of seeming 
England from the attacks of France, persuaded John to sur- 
render the kingdom into the hands of the pope, to swear 
allegiance to him as lord paramount, and afterwards to receive 
it back as a fief of the holy see, paying an annual tribute 
of 1,000 silver marks for the same. Philip was now forbidden 
to attack a kingdom which had been made a part of the 
patrimony of St. Peter, and therefore turned his arms against 
the Flemings. Otho, the German emperor, and the nephew 
of John, in alliance with him, resisted the invasion of Philip, 
whose fleet of 1,700 ships was surprised by the English fleet, 
consisting of 500 sail, and completely routed; 100 were burnt, 
and upwards of 300 captured, with the whole ammunition and 
provisions of the French army. This, the first great naval 
battle between the two nations, for a while compelled Philip to 
abandon the enterprise. In 1214, the rival armies met at 
Bouvines, when Philip, by the valour of his infantry, obtained 
a complete victory; Otho and Philip, however, narrowly 
escaped with their lives. In 1215, on the invitation of the 
barons, disgusted with the conduct of John, the crown of 
England was offered to the son of Louis, who for a short time 
was acknowledged as king of England. He however obtained 
possession of a very small portion of the country, and in less 
than a year after his arrival, was, on the death of John, 
deserted by the barons, and compelled to depart. Philip n. 
died 1223, and was succeeded by the feeble Louis vin., 
who however took Niort, and La Rochelle, with Poitou, from 
the English, who now only retained Gascony. He died, while 
carrying on the war of extermination against the Albigenses, in 
1226, and was succeeded by Louis ix., under the regency of 
his mother, Blanche, of Castile ; which was chiefly employed 
in resisting the powerful barons of Brittany and Champagne, 
and carrying on the war against the Albigenses, terminated" by 
the acquisition of Languedoc. In 1259, a treaty was con- 
cluded by Louis with Henry in. of England, which confirmed 
the latter in the possession of the four provinces of Perigord, 
194. 



§ 39.] CRUSADES AGAINST THE ALBIGENSES. [1216 A.D. 

the Limousin, the Agenois, and a part of Saintonges, as fiefs. 
In return, Henry abandoned Normandy and PoitoU, and did 
homage as a peer of France, under the title of the duke of 
Guienne. The latter portion of the reign of Louis was 
employed in ameliorating the condition of his subjects, and in 
framing laws to repress the private wars of the feudal nobility. 
Duels or judicial combats were forbidden; and appeals from 
the local courts of the barons were encouraged, by which 
the lower and middling classes were protected from the injustice 
and oppression of the nobles. In 1268, the edict, termed the 
pragmatic section, was issued, which laid the foundation of the 
liberties of the Gallican church, and gave to the churches the 
right of electing their superiors, independently of the pope, 
and allowed church preferment and promotion to be carried on 
as formerly, without regard to any edict which might be issued 
from the papal see. 

The Crusades against the Albigenses in 
Southern France. 

The inhabitants of Southern France were greatly in advance of their 
countrymen in the north. They were foremost in civilization ; probably 
the result of their thriving commerce, and the superior municipal liber- 
ties which they enjoyed. The feudal barons of the south mingled more 
with the burgesses, than those of the north, and hence communicated to 
the middle classes not a little of the chivalrous spirit of the nobles. To 
this may be attributed their abhorrence of the dogmas and corruptions 
of the church of Rome. They were named Yaldenses or Albi- 
genses, and some sects were distinguished by the names Catharins, 
JPatarins, and Pauvres de Lyons. The chief counts of the Languedoc 
territory, or Southern France, were Raymond, count of Toulouse, and 
Raymond Roger, viscount of Beziers and Carcasonne. These nobles 
at least countenanced the Albigenses, being witnesses of their purity in 
morals, and their sincerity in devotion. The Count of Toulouse was 
reproached by the bishop of the diocese, and the papal legate, for not 
exterminating the heretics by fire and sword. The legate even excom- 
municated Raymond, and grossly insulted him in his own court, which 
led (as in the case of a, Becket) to the assassination of the legate, and so 
enraged the unscrupulous pontiff, Innocent in., that he issued a cru- 
sade against the count, and called upon the king, and all the nobility 
and prelates of France, to join in the Tioly war, promising them, at the 
same time, large privileges and indulgences, spoil, riches, and honours 
in this world, and final and certain salvation in heaven. At the same 
time, to arrest the heresy, a new order was instituted, that of St. Do- 
minic (friars inquisitors), who went about in pairs, first to seek out 
their prey, and then to destroy it. The army of 300,000 fanatics which 
invaded Languedoc, overcame the feeble courage of the count, who 
passed over to the crusaders, delivered up his fortresses, and underwent 
a public scourging in the church of St. Gillies. Count Roger also 
195 k 2 



A.D. 1216-26.] CRUSADES AGAINST THE ALBIGENSES. [§ 39. 

offered to make submission, but as this would probably hare ended the 
affair, by leaving the Albigenses wholly unprotected, and so prevented 
the punishment of the heretics, it was declined. Eoger now prepared 
to defend Beziers and Carcasonne. The former was first attacked ; but 
as the population was mixed, the Abbot of Citeaux (legate commander) 
was appealed to, to determine how the innocent were to be distinguished, 
from the guilty. "Kill them all," replied the christian (!) legate, "the 
Lord will easily know his own." Acting upon this advice, the crusaders, 
on entering the town, massacred the entire population, sparing neither 
woman nor infant. Upwards of 20,000 human beings were the first- 
fruits of this European crusade. On the fall of Beziers, the crusaders 
proceeded to attack the city of Carcasonne, to which place Roger had 
contrived to escape. Two attacks upon the city were bravely repulsed, 
when the legate, fearing the consequences of prolonging the war to a 
great extent, had recourse to trickery and perfidy. He offered the count 
and the barons of his army a safe conduct, on the surrender of the city, 
which was accepted. Eoger, with 300 of his retinue, presented them- 
selves before the legate, when he exclaimed, " Faith is not to be kept 
with those who are without faith," and ordered them all to be put in 
chains. The inhabitants of the city, forsaken by then' leaders, fled. A 
general assembly was now summoned by the legate, at which it was de- 
cided that Beziers and Carcasonne should be the reward of Simon de 
Montfort (earl of Liecester), the most forward and valiant of the cru- 
saders. To him also was committed the custody of Roger, by whom he 
was poisoned a short time after. Numberless executions, at the stake 
and on the scaffold, succeeded, the principal victims for which were 
supplied by the zeal of the Dominican friars. 

The repeated cruelty and barbarity practised upon the unoffending 
Albigenses, at length led the whole body of the Toulousans to revolt, 
and Peter of Arragon, the uncle of Roger, took the command. He, 
however, proved to be no match for Montfort, by whom he was defeated 
and slain at Muret. Montfort was now lord of all the county of Tou- 
louse, the city of which he seized for himself, with the whole of the 
territory, under the sanction of the Council of Lateran, 1216. He was 
acknowledged by Philip n., who received his homage as Duke of ]S"ar- 
bonne, Count of Toulouse, and Viscount of Beziers and Carcasonne. 
In 1217, the cruelty and violence of the unrelenting Montfort, produced 
another revolt of the Toulousans, who were headed by a son of the 
former count, young Raymond, who had, to the dismay of the papal 
see, considerably broken the power of Montfort, whose career was now 
cut short by death. A huge stone discharged from a mangonel on the 
walls of a town he was besieging, terminated his fanatical and guilty 
career. Montfort was succeeded by his son Amanry, who, being 
unable to defend himself against the house of Toulouse, was at last 
driven to offer the whole of Languedoc to Philip, which his age and 
declining strength alone compelled him to resign. In 1226, Amanry 
being signally defeated by Raymond, fled to Paris, and laid his posses- 
sions at the feet of Louis, who had succeeded Philip. They were 
accepted, and the office of constable promised him. The expulsion of 
Amanry also quickened the expiring zeal of the pope, who had a new 
crusade preached up against the Albigenses. Louis entered Languedoc 
196 



§ 40.] ENGLAND UNDER THE NORMANS. [1066 A.D. 

at the head of a numerous army, and arrived at Avignon, the citizens of 
which refused to admit so vast an assemblage within her walls. Louis 
indignantly commanded the siege of the town to be formed, determined 
to be revenged. After a lapse of three months, during which he lost 
upwards of 20,000 men, either by disease and famine, or by the attacks 
of the Avignonais, the city capitulated, but on honourable terms. Lan- 
guedoc now became an easy conquest, but proved fatal to Philip, who 
died of an epidemy peculiar to the conquered regions. During the 
minority of Louis, under the regency of his mother, Blanche, the war 
again broke out, marked by atrocious cruelty on both sides. In 1229, 
Raymond was reduced to make an almost unconditional surrender of 
the whole of his territories : those situated in France devolved upon 
Louis IX., while those in Aries were claimed by the papal legate. A 
small fief allowed to be retained by the count for his support, was, at 
his death, to pass to his daughter, .whom he engaged should be allied 
to the brother of the French monarch. Thus the whole fell into the 
hands of the crown. 

III. For the Crusades of Louis v 1 1 . , Philip 1 1 . , 
and Louis ix. (the Saint), see § 34. 

§40. 
ENGLAND, 1066—1272. 
a. Under Norman Kings, 1066 — 1154. 
1. William i. f 1057. 



r ; n 

Robert, 2. William II., 3. Henry I., Adelaide, 

duke of Normandy. f 1100. f 1135. married to 

Stephen, 
Matilda, count of Blois. 

married to || 

Godfrey Plautagenet, 4. Stephen, 
count of Anjou. King, f 1154. 

II 
1. Henry II., f 1189. 



/ ^ 

2. Richard I., Godfrey. 3. John (Lackland), 

Cceur de Lion, f 1199. || t 1216. 

Arthur, || 

duke of Bretagne 4. Henry ill., 1272. 

(Brittany). 

1. William the Conqueror (i., 1066—1087) was 
the fifth duke of Normandy in lineal descent from . Rolla. 
After the defeat of Harold at Semlac (Battle), he took Dofre 
(Dover) Castle, to secure a free communication with Nor- 
mandy, and gradually drew his troops round London, build- 
197 



1066-87 A.D.] ENGLAND WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. [§ 40. 

ing a place near the Thames for the shelter of his army (the 
Tower of London). In 1066 he was crowned at West Mynster, 
and was proclaimed rightful King of England. Seven years 
of active warfare, however, were required to subdue the oppo- 
sition of the Anglo-Saxons, and to place William in full pos- 
session of his kingdom, when the valiant Hereward made peace 
with the king, who soon after connived at his assassination. 
Sixteen Normans, however, fell by the single arm of Hereward 
before he expired. To secure himself in his new dominions, 
fortresses and castles were constructed throughout the country, 
and garrisoned by Normans ; and the lands and offices of 
trust, of which he deprived the Anglo-Saxons, were distributed 
among his followers. The land, which was confiscated on 
being subdued, was divided into 60,215 portions. To the 
clergy one-third was given, and to the barons one-half. Mili- 
tary service, however, was required of the ecclesiastics, no less 
than of the temporal barons. The remainder of the land was 
retained by the crown. To render the spoliation more com- 
plete, the Anglo-Saxon bishops were deposed on various pre- 
texts, and their revenues devoted to the rewarding of the 
Norman adventurers. William having settled the territorial 
divisions of the land, provided for the better administration of 
justice. He separated the ecclesiastical from the temporal 
courts, and freed the civil judge from the power and dominion 
of the ecclesiastical, making the compulsory operations of the 
latter to depend on appeals to the secular power. He enforced 
the laws against simony and the loose, immoral lives of the 
Soman clergy; and although grateful to the pope for the 
favours which were granted to him, yet he refused to acknow- 
ledge his supremacy, and maintained his independence, re- 
fusing even Hildebrancl the homage he demanded. In the 
reign of the Conqueror, the feudal system was at least com- 
pleted, if not first introduced into England. William became 
chief lord, but his authority only extended over his own 
domains. The lord who alone had any claim to the military 
service of the people of a district, was the only person who 
exercised any authority in it ; he could lead his vassals against 
his weaker neighbours, and was the guardian of his subordi- 
nate tenants : hence the disposal of his wards, male as well as 
female, in marriage, devolved upon him. The greater portion 
of the people was therefore in a state of abject dependence, if 
not of personal slavery. In 1087, William hastened to Nor- 
198 



§ 40.] ENGLAND WILLIAM II., HENRY I. [1089-1106 A.D. 

mandy, to suppress the revolt of his son Robert, to whom he 
had promised the duchy, but had refused to surrender it. 
His horse having rushed into the burning ruins of the town of 
Mantes, he plunged so violently as to injure the king to such 
an extent, that, on his being carried to the abbey of St. 
Gervas, he died. 

2. William n., surnamed the Red (Eufus), left 
Rouen immediately on the death of his father, and was pro- 
claimed king of England at West Mynster, by Lanfranc, who 
advised him to distribute the immense riches of his father, 
so as to repair, in some degree, the effect of his crimes. 
Shortly after his accession, a rebellion broke out among the 
new nobility of England, fostered by Robert, the brother of 
William, who had been excluded from the throne of England, 
and made duke of Normandy. William, alarmed, appealed to 
the English, who, having assisted him in quelling it, were 
rewarded with considerable concessions, and from this period 
began to make some progress towards their former position, as 
possessors of the soil. After an inglorious reign, marked by 
plunder and extortion, to support his sensual pleasures, and 
to enrich his favourites, he met with death accidentally, while 
hunting in the new forest. An arrow from the bow of Sir 
Walter Tyrrell pierced his breast, and killed him, 1100. 

3. The younger son of the Conqueror, Henry I , surnamed 
Beauclerk, succeeded to the throne. Like his predecessors, 
he did not wait until the funeral obsequies had been performed, 
but hastened first to Winchester, to seize the yet unappropriated 
riches of the king, and then to London, to crush at once the 
few adherents of his elder brother, Robert, on a crusade in 
Palestine. Five days after the death of William, Henry was 
crowned, and on the following day issued a charter in favour 
of the Anglo-Saxons, declaring that "he would govern by 
the laws of King Edward, as altered of his father." To 
his feudal vassals he promised considerable relief; the cele- 
brated Anselm was restored to his primacy, and the church 
was again to possess its rights, while the wards within his 
jurisdiction were to be dealt with justly, and with equity. In 
1106, Robert returned from the crusades, and being invited 
by some powerful barons, made a descent upon England, to 
wrest the crown from the hands of the usurper. A treaty, 
however, was signed, by which Robert was to receive Nor- 
mandy, and Henry to retain England. On the return of the 

199 



A.D. 1106-50.] ENGLAND STEPHEN, HENKY II. [§ 40. 

former to Normandy, he regretted his agreement, and gave 
utterance to some expressions which excited the anger of 
Henry, who invaded Normandy, and after defeating Robert at 
Tenchebrai, sent him a prisoner to England. He attempted 
to escape, when his eyes were put out by the command of 
Henry: he expired at Cardiff Castle, at the age of eighty 
years. Henry, to secure the succession to the throne in 
his family, procured the right of succession to the female 
branch of the royal house, and caused his daughter Maud, to 
whom he had given in marriage Geoffrey Plantagenet, to be 
acknowledged by the nobles and prelates of England, the king 
of the Scots, and Stephen, the earl of Boulogne, who took the 
oath of fealty at Northampton, and, on the birth of a prince, 
again at Oxford, 1133. Two years after, the king died in 
Normandy, of a surfeit, and thus concluded an unquiet reign 
of thirty- six years (1135). 

Stephen of Blois and Earl of Boulogne, 
although he had not the least title to the throne, hastened to 
London, and procured his coronation at West Mynster. He 
was, however, opposed by the Earl of Exeter, and King David 
of Scotland, on the part of Maud ; but vanquished both ; the 
latter, for the second time, at the battle of the Standard, at 
North Allertune (Northallerton). In 1139, a more formidable 
attempt was made on behalf of the queen, headed by the Earl 
of Gloucester, a natural son of the late king, whose army at 
length defeated Stephen at Lincoln, in 1141, and took him 
prisoner. Maud was then declared queen, but the triumph 
was short. Civil wars continued to rage, marked by rapine, 
murder, and sacrilege, until 1153, when, at a council held at 
Winchester, it was agreed that Stephen should retain the 
crown during his life, and that Henry, the son of Matilda, 
should be adopted as his successor. He survived this treaty 
only twelve months, and closed his tumultuous life in 1154. 

Under the four first Kings of the House 
of Anjou and Plantagenet. 

Henry Plantagenet, besides the throne of England, which 
he ascended without opposition, as the heir of his mother, pos- 
sessed Normandy, and held a feudal right over Brittany, and, 
by the death of his father, he succeeded to the territories of 
Anjou. In 1150, by his marriage with the divorced wife of 
the younger Louis (Eleanora), he became lord of Western 
France, from Flanders to the Pyrenees. Thus Henry pos- 
200 



§ 40.] ENGLAND — HENRY II., BECEET. [1150-66 A.D. 

sessed far greater territories than his liege lord, who scarcely 
ruled, except nominally, over a tenth part of France. 

The first steps of Henry were those of a reformer ; he com- 
pelled the nobles created by Stephen, to restore to him the 
possession of the royal castles, and commanded the Flemings 
who had assisted that monarch, to leave the kingdom; and 
also restored the adulterated coin to its true value. The most 
memorable transaction of Henry's reign was the invasion of 
Ireland, for which he obtained the sanction of Pope Adrian, 
on condition of his collecting the Peter-pence for the papal see. 
In 1172, the provinces of Leinster and Munster were subdued, 
and fortresses and castles erected over the entire territory, 
which were garrisoned by Norman soldiers. A large portion 
of the land was presented by the king to Eobert Fitz Stephen, 
as a reward for his services, while Henry himself took the 
title of Lord of all Hibernia. 

In 1162, Thomas a. Becket was promoted to the archbishopric of 
Canterbury, when England was called upon to participate in that con- 
test between the papal church and the state, which had, for upwards of 
a century, destroyed the peace of central Europe. The clergy were 
independent of the secular arm of the law : their scandalous and atro- 
cious crimes, therefore, passed unpunished. Henry endeavoured to 
reform this state of things, and, after much litigation, procured the 
consent of the bishops, including a, Becket hi in self, to the effect that 
any clerk guilty of crimes shoidd be degraded, and handed over to the 
secular officers for punishment. To give the form of law to this agree- 
ment, a general council was held at Clarendon (1164), to confirm it in 
the shape of sixteen articles, known afterwards as "The Constitu- 
tion of Clarendon." A Becket soon after repented of this con- 
cession of the church, and did penance for it. Having been commanded 
to render an account of the rents and profits arising from the royal 
domains of Eye and Berkhamstead, he attempted to leave England, but 
was arrested, and afterwards arraigned before the barons, for offending 
against the laws of Clarendon. On sentence being pronoiinced, he 
at once quitted the council-chamber, and finally escaped to France, 
where the pope then was, at Seuz. After considerable litigation 
and violent proceedings on both sides, a pacification was entered into : 
a, Becket was to be restored to his see, and the statutes of Clarendon 
were passed over in silence. Thomas a Becket, however, did not as he 
was bound to do, remove the ecclesiastical censure from the prelates, 
which had been inflicted upon them for their adherence to their sove- 
reign. The Archbishop of York, and the bishops of London and Salis- 
bury, therefore went to France, to make complaints to the king. In 
the meanwhile, a Becket had excommunicated another servant of the 
king, for having formerly been opposed to him. On this reaching the 
ears of Henry, he exclaimed, " is there no one to deliver me out of my 
troubles !" This and similar expressions were construed into a com- 
201 k3 



A.D. 1166-99.] ENGLAND — HENRY II., RICHARD I. [§ 40. 

mand to rid him of the haughty prelate. Four knights repaired at once 
to Canterbury, in the cathedral church of which, while engaged in the 
evening vespers, he perished, before the altar of St. Bennet, uttering, as 
his last words, " To God and St. Mary I commend my soul and the 
church." The murderers fled to Knaresborough Castle, and afterwards 
did penance, by a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where they died, and 
were buried before the temple gate. Henry, who had not meditated 
the death of this extraordinary but unamiable man, sent an embassy to 
Rome, by whom he was compelled to swear allegiance to the holy see, 
and to promise restoration of all goods, and freely to pardon all the 
companions of the archbishop. These terms, and some others, having 
been agreed upon, the two nuncios appointed by the pope, absolved 
the king, and restored the country once more to peace. In the follow- 
ing year, a Becket was canonized as a saint, and Henry, to gratify the 
people, made a most humiliating pilgrimage to Ins tomb. 

In 1169 commenced a series of civil wars, consequent on 
the rebellion of the young princes, fostered by the incensed 
Queen Eleanor. At one time they were in a state of combina- 
tion, fighting against the king, their father, who had gene- 
rously raised them to the ranks of kings and princes ; and at 
another, maintaining a deadly conflict against each other. At 
length, on the final rebellion of his sons Eichard and John, 
aided by the French king and Eleanor, who, in male attire, 
headed her own army, the strength of the king gave way, and 
he died at Chinon castle, 1189. 

During the reign of Henry, England was divided into six circuits, 
which were to be visited by three itinerant justices, so as to render the 
distribution of the law easy to the appellant. The grand assize was 
also established, and the ordeal by fire, etc., abandoned. The trial by 
single combat, however, remained. 

Eichard (i.) Cceur de Lion (1189—1199) was 
rather a crusader than a sovereign, and his exploits are to be 
sought for, not in the history of his own country, but in that 
of Asia. He spent three years in the third crusade, and was 
two years confined a prisoner in Austria. In 1194, after a 
mock trial, the only object of which was to extort a heavy 
ransom, the Emperor Henry VI. released his prisoner, who 
landed in England, to the great joy of all his subjects. 
Eichard, on his liberation, found that his brother John, sup- 
ported by Philip of France, had filled England and Normandy 
with commotion : hence Eichard was immediately plunged into 
a war for the recovery of Normandy, of which province one 
town (Eouen) at least remained. The faithless John sheltered 
himself in Ervreux. Eichard fought with his usual bravery 
and success against his enemies; but at length fell by the 
202 



§ 40.] ENGLAND — JOHN — MAGNA CHAETA. [1199-1215 A.D. 

arrow of Bertrand de Gourdon, before the castle of Clialuz 
Chabrol, the feudal residence of one of his rebellious vassals, 
in the Limousin, 1199. 

John (Lack-land) ; 1199— 1216.— On the death of 
Richard, there were two rivals for the English crown: John, 
the eldest brother of the late king, and Arthur, the son of 
Geoffrey (deceased), the elder brother of John. The English 
provinces in France, excepting Normandy and Guienne, were 
in favour of Arthur, who was compelled to take refuge at the 
court of Philip, by his uncle John, who possessed himself of 
the royal treasures, and despatched the primate Herbert to 
England, to obtain for him the support of the barons. He 
was crowned at West Mynster, having been, according to the 
words of the primate, elected by the nation. (For John's 
disputes with the pope, see § 39.) In 1213, in consequence 
of the attempts of John to crush the liberties of his sub- 
jects, which he had himself granted at the council of St. 
Albans, agreeably to the charter of Henry i., a confederacy 
was formed among the barons, headed by the Archbishop 
Langton. They met at St. Edmund's Bury, where they swore 
to withdraw their fealty, and to wage war against him, until 
their requests were granted. A petition was drawn up and 
presented to the king, who solicited time for consideration. 
Both parties, however, meanwhile prepared vigorously for 
war. After a short time, the city of London joined the con- 
federacy, and opened their gates to the followers of the barons. 
The pope interfered on his behalf, and issued his bull, which 
was, however, treated with contempt by the whole nation. 
John, at last, was deserted by all the nobility, and retired to 
Odiham, with only seven attendants. Under a promise of safe 
custody from the king, deputies from the barons were received 
at Staines, who agreed to meet at Runny Meide on the Trinity 
Monday following, where the armies of both parties encamped, 
and the conferences commenced. On the Friday following, 
the articles were drawn up, and reduced to the form of a 
charter, in which state it was issued as a royal grant (Magna 
Charta libertatum), 1215. To keep the faithless king 
in check, the city and fortress of London was to be retained 
by the barons, until all things were finally arranged ; and 
twenty-five barons were appointed as guardians of the liber- 
ties embodied and expressed in the charter, with full powers 
to make war on the king, upon the breach of any one of the 
203 



A.D. 1216-27.] ENGLAND HENRY HI. [§ 40. 

articles contained therein. John felt indignant at being com- 
pelled to submit to such humiliating conditions, and obtained 
the help of the pope, who absolved him from his oaths, and 
excommunicated the barons, whom, in the bull, were declared 
to be worse than the infidel Turks. John, having obtained a 
large army of German mercenaries, overran the country. The 
barons, in their distress, sought aid from France, and offered 
the crown to Louis, the son of the French king. The death 
of John at Newark, however, closed the troublous scene, and 
put an end to the opposition of the barons, and the hopes of 
the French monarch, whose son was soon after completely 
deserted, and took his departure from the English shores. 

4. Henry in. (1216 — 1272) ascended the throne, and 
was crowned at Gloucester, in the tenth year of his age, the 
Earl of Pembroke taking the government of the kingdom. 
Louis, the son of the French monarch, kept the field against 
Pembroke for some months. Eobert Fitzwalter, and other 
barons, considered themselves bound to assist the French 
prince ; and it was not until after a terrible conflict in the 
streets of Lincoln, between the troops of the regent, and those 
of Louis and the confederate barons, that he took his departure. 
Peace being restored, the great Pembroke attended to the civil 
welfare of the kingdom, and extended the provisions of the 
charter to Ireland, and enforced its observance in every county 
of England. He died 1220, and was succeeded in the regency 
by Hugh cle Burgh, a cruel baron of the then old court fac- 
tion, or favourers of the late King John. In 1223, a bull from 
the pope was obtained, declaring the young prince competent 
to exercise the royal authority; and about the same time the 
confirmation of the great charter was demanded: it was, how- 
ever, opposed. In the year 1225, on the final loss of Port 
Eochelle, a council was held at West Mynster, to decide upon 
the raising of a subsidy to defray the expenses of an expedi- 
tion into France, that the patrimonial possessions of the pre- 
lates and barons might, if possible, be regained. The barons, 
who had demanded the renewal of the charter, resolutely re- 
fused, until the grievance was redressed. Hence, soon after, 
the great charter was re-established by the council, and the 
subsidy was collected throughout the kingdom. Eochelle, 
however, was not retaken. In 1227, the parliament (and the 
pope, for the second time) declared the young king eligible to 
reign. De Burgh had become unpopular, and Henry, who 
204 



§ 40.] ENGLAND HENRY HI. [1230-65 A.D. 

endeavoured, on the accession of Louis ix., to regain the 
French possessions, returned, in 1230, disgraced and van- 
quished. On his applying to the council for another subsidy, 
necessary, as he alleged, in consequence of the expenses of the 
war, but really occasioned by his extravagance and prodi- 
gality, the assembly refused, declaring, through the Earl of 
Chester, that the barons were suffering from the same causes as 
himself. De Burgh was succeeded by Peter, the bishop of 
Winchester, a bold, intrepid prelate, who, on his elevation, 
promoted his countrymen of Poitou, and so offended the 
nobles, that they refused to attend the council when sum- 
moned. He soon lost the royal favour ; and his fellow-country- 
men were commanded to leave the kingdom. In 1236, Henry 
was married to Eleanor of Provence, and foreign favourites 
again occupied the higher offices of the state. His exactions 
from the parliament became more frequent; the towns and 
cities were taxed contrary to the provisions of the charter ; and 
the oppressed Jews were occasionally massacred, and fre- 
quently imprisoned, to furnish supplies of money for the sup- 
port of the extravagancies of the king. These, and other 
iniquitous proceedings, were, at length, put an end to by the 
parliament holden at Oxford, 1258, when twenty-four barons 
were appointed to redress grievances, and reform the state. 
Knights were also elected to inform the parliament of the 
breaches of the law committed in their respective counties. 
This government existed many years. In 1262, Henry en- 
deavoured to release himself from its obligations, but was pre- 
vented by the young Prince Edward, who was determined to 
act with integrity. The collision between the king and the 
barons, who were headed by Simon de Montfort, led to an 
appeal to Louis of France, who pronounced for the liberties of 
the charter, and the restoration of all royal rights and posses- 
sions to the king. The barons were not satisfied with a deci- 
sion which provided only a temporary, not a substantial, relief, 
and therefore again armed against the sovereign (1265). The 
military genius of Edward now appeared, and brought two 
successive victories to the royalists. London was taken, and 
the inhabitants slaughtered. At Lewes, however, Leicester 
triumphed, and the king and his valiant son were taken pri- 
soners, and compelled to transfer the government of the king- 
dom upon Leicester and Gloucester. Edward, however, con- 
trived to escape, and again joined the royalist army. In 1265, 
205 



A.D. 1265-72.] ENGLAND — HENRY HI. [§ 40. 

the baronial army, and that of the royalists, met at Evesham, 
when the great Leicester was surrounded and slain, in the vain 
endeavour to rouse the valour of his army, the lines of which 
had given way. They were defeated with great slaughter, and 
the power of the barons completely destroyed. The followers 
of the illustrious Leicester were proscribed, and their lands 
confiscated. The Earl of Gloucester soon after laid down his 
arms, and Edward entered the Isle of Ely as a conqueror. On 
the peace of the kingdom being restored, Edward engaged in 
the crusades, and the remaining years of Henry were spent in 
acts of little importance: he died, 1272. 

On the loss of the English possessions in France, the national hatred 
between the Saxons of England and the Normans of France, gradually 
disappeared, and those foreign elements with which the minds both of 
the nobility and the people had been imbued, began to subside, and 
slowly to manifest itself in efforts on behalf of constitutional freedom, 
or the true development of the national English character. The great 
charter wrung from the faithless King John, checked, at the same time, 
the arbitrary rule of the sovereign, and the imperious rule of the feudal 
nobility, while it at the same time secured great immunities to all tho 
burghs and cities throughout the kingdom. Aids and subsidies could 
not be raised but by the consent of the council, which was, however, 
not a representative body, but an assembly of the prelates aud greater 
barons, assisted by the immediate tenants, or fiefholders, of the crown. 
No freeman could now be imprisoned, or otherwise punished, without a 
trial by his peers. During the troublous but eventful reign of the 
third Henry, the charter proved an invaluable shield against the unjust 
demands of that prodigal sovereign. On several occasions did the par- 
liament refuse to accede to his requests, until the king had promised to 
be bound by the great charter. At length, on the frequent breaches of 
the king, four barons were elected by the assembly to watch over the 
judicial affairs of the land, and the expenditure of the revenue. Two 
judges and two barons of the exchequer were appointed, beside others, 
and these were also to be independent of the crown. Thus early was 
a parliamentary control over the supplies exercised, and the appoint- 
ment of advisers, or ministers, of the crown established. In 1258, a 
still more important step was taken, when twenty-four barons were 
elected to watch over the affairs of the kingdom, and to reform the 
state, under the parliament, which was to consist of four elective 
knights from each county. Thus a nearer approach to that popular 
a dmi nistration which followed, in 1265, was effected, when writs were 
issued requiring the sheriffs of counties to elect and return two knights 
for each county, two citizens for each city, and two burgesses for every 
burgh in the county. Thus a permanent assembly was established, 
capable of checking, at the same time, the unjust tyranny both of tho 
sovereign and the nobility. This new constitution of the assembly by 
Simon de Montfort, is supposed, by some, but without sufficient reason, 
to have been made for the purpose of ingratiating liimself with the 
206 



§ 41.] MOHAMMEDAN SPAIN. [1140-1212 A.D. 

lower orders. But, be this as it may, he has immortalized his name by 
the constitution of an assembly which has ever since been found the 
best for the government of a free country, and made the model of all the 
rest which have been established. It was the first exhibition in recent 
times of the fusion of monarchy, nobility, and democracy. 

§ 41. 
SPAIN. 

Arabian or Mohammedan Spain. 

J u s e f , the Arabian prince of the Mohammedan states of 
Spam, continued to reign, in comparative tranquillity, until 
his death, at the advanced age of 100 years, when he left 
his kingdom to A 1 y, his son, who almost immediately com- 
menced a war against the Christian states. His authority 
was not, however, firmly established, and on the rebellion of 
the Meliedi in Africa, he had to retire from the invasion of 
Castile, and to make peace with the insurgents of Cordova, 
who had revolted during his absence. On passing over into 
Africa, he was unsuccessful. His armies were constantly de- 
feated by the generals of the Almohade caliph, whose emis- 
saries also overrun the Mohammedan possessions in Spain, ex- 
cepting Granada. At length, Aly died of vexation, and his son 
Taxfin, after a gallant resistance, was compelled to fly 
(1146). Abdelmumen, the princeof the Almohades, of Marocco, 
put all the royal family to death, and the Almoravides were 
compelled to take shelter in the Balearic Isles. Arabian Spain 
was now united with Marocco. In 1163, Abdelmumen died. 

Abdelmumen was the reviver of science and literature : he was a 
proficient in jurisprudence, mathematics, and medicine. He was, how- 
ever, greater still as a philosopher ; he translated Aristotle, and was a 
voluminous writer on the peripatetic philosophy : hence his surname of 
commentator. 

J u s e f succeeded his father, Abdelmumen, and was slain 
while before Seville, which was besieged by mistake, in lieu of 
Lisbon. Jacob, his son, who was in Africa, in 1195, entered 
Spain, and conquered Alfonso at Alarcos. Abdallah followed, 
and began his reign brilliantly. He subdued the Almoravides 
in the Balearic Isles, but was signally defeated by the com- 
bined armies of the kings of Castile, Arragon, and Navarre, 
in the plains of Tolosa, near Ubeda. Sixty thousand Moors 
were taken prisoners, while 100,000 were left dead on the 
field of battle. Mohammed Abdallah fled to Marocco, where 
he died, 1212. His successors, a feeble race, allowed the 
207 



A.D. 1230-1302.] MOHAMMEDAN AND CHRISTIAN SPAIN. [§41. 

Christian kings of Castile and Navarre to wrest from them 
nearly all their possessions. The little kingdom of Granada 
remained yet in the hands of the Almohadites. Waits t or 
kings, as numerous as the chief cities, had established them- 
selves over the whole of the remaining Mohammedan do- 
minions. In 1230, the last Almohade candidate for sove- 
reignty died, and left his dominions to the Prince of Jaen, who 
founded the kingdom of Granada, the last bright relic of 
Mohammedan Spain: he died, 1248. 

To Mohammed, Granada was indebted for great prosperity ; he pa- 
tronised the arts and sciences, adorned the cities with baths, fountains, 
and palaces, the most splendid of which, the Alhambra, was left unfi- 
nished at his death. The schools and hospitals he visited personally, 
and gave audience to all classes of persons indiscriminately. He 
caused the land to be artificially irrigated, and thus extended the 
science of agriculture, while the labours of the loom surpassed those of 
Asia. Gold and silver mines were opened, and extensively worked, so 
that the people of Granada during his reign, Christians no less than 
Moslems, were the most numerous and prosperous of the whole of the 
peninsula, if not of Europe. 

Mohammed ii. was a feeble prince. Civil wars engrossed 
the whole period of his reign; the Christians of Castile, and 
the Moors of Granada, being engaged in a conflict against the 
Christians of Portugal and Arragon, and the Moors of Marocco, 
who supported the aged Alfonzo against his son, the usurper 
Sancho the Brave. In 1282, Mohammed broke off his alliance 
with Sancho, who soon after turned his arms successfully 
against his late ally. On his sudden death, 1295, Mohammed 
recovered his losses, and concluded a peace. In 1302, he 
died, and was succeeded by his son, Mohammed in. 

2. Christian Spain (see § 33). 

During the period in which the above events took place in 
Arabian Spain, Christian Spain, which embraced the 
kingdoms of Navarre, Arragon, Leon, and Castile, were constantly 
engaged in warfare, either against each other, or against the Moham- 
medans, from whom several fine provinces were wrested ; as Cordova, 
Murcia, and Seville. To these wars against the Moslems is to be 
attributed the formation of the several religious and military 
orders, which were distributed over the whole of the Christian 
portion of the peninsula. The most ancient was that of Alcantara 
(1158), the offshoot of the order of Calatrava (1156). The order of 
St. Jago de Compostella (1161) was composed of a number of dissolute 
prodigals, who had dissipated their hereditary fortunes in profligacy, 
and turned robbers ; to expiate their crimes, they dedicated the rest of 
their lives to the service of the church, against the unbelievers. They 
208 



§ 42.] GREEK EMPIRE UNDER THE COMNENI. [1057-81 A.D. 

wore a decoration, consisting of a red cross in the form of a sword, 
while the former order wore a red cross also, in the form of the lily. 
The orderof Montesa (1317) took the place of the Templars (see p. 163) 
in the kingdom of Arragon. The kingdoms benefited by the exertions 
of the chivalrous knights of these orders were Castile and Leon, which 
were united into one for seventy-three years, from 1157 to 1230, and 
considerably enlarged by the conquest of nearly all the Moorish 
provinces. Navarre was in 1284 added to France, and Valencia, the 
Balearic Isles, and the county of Barcelona were annexed to Arragon, 
the former by conquest, the latter by the marriage of Count Berenger 
with the heiress of the sovereign of Arragon, his former ally against the 
Mohammedans. The new kingdom of Portugal, in 1253, wrested from 
the Moors the valuable province of Algarbe. 



§42. 

THE BYZANTINE (G-EEEK) EMPIRE. 

1. Under the Comneni and Ducas (1057 — 
1185). The Byzantine empire still formed the chief bulwark 
of the Christian world in the East. It stood firm against the 
attacks of the Arabs, and resisted the aggressions of the power- 
ful Seldjukian Turks, who were established in the very heart 
of the Minor Asia. The Macedonian line of regents having 
occupied the throne two centuries, the soldiers raised one of 
their companions in arms to the throne, in opposition to 
Michael vi., — Isaac Comnenus, a man belonging to 
one of the most noble families in the empire. Michael soon 
after resigned, and Isaac, having ruled for two years, justly 
and vigorously, retired to a convent, oppressed with bodily 
infirmities. His successor, Constantine Ducas, a friend of the 
house of Comneni, next assumed the purple, but although an 
upright monarch, was no warrior, and therefore not able to 
compete with the Turks, now ravaging the empire. 

At his death Constantine left the empire to his wife (Eudocia), in 
trust for his three sons, on condition that she remained unmarried. 
In less than seven months, however, she married and raised to the 
throne Eomanus Diogenes, a man of noble mind, and great military 
talents. In a war against the Seldjukian Turks, being betrayed by the 
nobles, he was defeated, and taken prisoner by the sultan, who treated 
him with the greatest respect, and soon after restored him to liberty. 
On his return, he found the empress imprisoned in a convent, and the 
usurper, Michael vn., seated upon the throne. On endeavouring to 
regain the sovereignty, he was treacherously betrayed into the hands of 
Michael, who had his eyes put out, and afterwards threw him into 
a prison. 

209 



A.D. 1081-1204.] BYZANTINE, OR GREEK EMPIRE. [§ 42. 

During the period of the above transactions, the greater 
portion of Asia Minor had been seized by the Seldjukian Turks, 
under Sulliman, who erected the sultanate of Eum, or Iconiuru, 
and Lower Italy also had fallen into the hands of the Normans. 
On the re-accession of the house of Conineni, a new order of 
things commenced. The three emperors of this dynasty, 
Alexius C o m n e n u s , his son, Kalo Johannes, 
and grandson, Manuel I., occupied the throne for 100 
years (1081 — 1180). The first mentioned considerably en- 
riched himself by the passing over into Asia of the numerous 
crusading armies, and each in turn bravely defending the 
frontiers of the empire against the Seldjuks in the east, the 
Normans in Lower Italy and Illyrium, and the Petchenejuns 
and Cumans in the north, besides the intestine struggles, 
and numerous conspiracies, which took place with the em- 
pire itself. Manuel n. handed down the empire in an 
unimpaired state to his son, Alexius n., a minor, who, 
after reigning two years, was dethroned, and cruelly put to 
death by his treacherous guardian and relative, Andro- 
nicus, who, in his turn, after a cruel reign of two years, 
was put to death, in an insurrection raised against him by 
Isaac Angelus, a collateral relative of the Comneni, 
who had once been given over into the hands of the executioner, 
to suffer a violent death, in opposition to the united voice of 
the populace. 

2. Under the House of Angelus, 1185—1204. 

The weak Isaac Angelus was unable to quell the insurrection 
of the Bulgares, or to prevent their assuming an independence 
of the empire; he also lost the important island of Cyprus. In 
1194, he was dethroned and blinded, by his brother, 
Alexius in., and afterwards thrown into prison. His son 
Alexius, sought the aid of the Venetian and French crusaders, 
who engaged, under certain considerations, to restore the 
throne to his father. Constantinople fell; Isaac was taken 
from prison, and his son, Alexius iv., seated on the throne 
(see page 156). Isaac and Alexius were soon after murdered 
by the adverse party, and, under the pretext of avenging their 
deaths, the crusaders, under Count Baldwin, took the capital, 
and divided the empire among themselves, and thus established 
the 

Latin Empire (1204 — 1261), which proved an abor- 
tive attempt to transfer the learning and rude manners of the 
210 



§§ 43, 44.] ARABIANS — MONGOLS. [1258-69 A.D. 

West to the then more civilized and cultivated countries of the 
East. For an account of the foundation and extinction of the 
kingdoms and states erected by the Latins, and the empire of 
Nicasa and Trapezunt established by the princes of the house 
of Paleologus (see page 157). 

§43. 

THE ARABIANS. 

The caliphat of the Abbasides was put an end to in 1258 
by the Mongols, who besieged Baghdat, the only city remain- 
ing in the possession of the caliphs. The "city of peace" 
was taken by treachery, and after being plundered for forty 
days, during which 200,000 princes were slaughtered, the 
fifty- sixth successor of Mohammed was sewn up in a cow's 
hide, and dragged by the barbarous conquerors through the 
streets of the city. All their forts were seized, and the sect of 
the Assassins destroyed. Hakim, one of the princes of 
the house of Abbas, however, contrived to escape to Egypt, 
where he was kindly received by the Sultan Bibers, who 
appointed him a residence at Cairo (Cayhir), where he exercised 
spiritual supremacy only. Here his descendants were sup- 
ported by the bounty of the Mameluke sultans, until the 
conquest of that country by the Turks, 1517. 

Of the African Dynasties, the Aglabides and Edrisides 
during the preceding period had become extinct, and the Eatimides 
in Egypt were overthrown by Noureddin (comp. page 154). The 
Marabethes, who had founded the caliphat and city of Marocco, and 
conquered southern Spain, were expelled by the Almohades, whose 
supremacy also ceased, 1269, when the whole of Africa fell into the pos- 
session of the three dynasties of the Abu Hassians, the Merenides, and 
the Lianides. 

§44. 

THE MONGOLS. 

The Mongols, or Moguls (a nomade race), closely 
connected with the Huns, inhabited the great steppes and 
plains lying between the south of Siberia and the desert of 
Gobi, as far as the greater Bucharia, or the country between 
Eastern Turkey and Bucharia. They are generally confounded 
with the Tartars, but they differ so widely from the Tartar 
race, both in their appearance and manners, as well as in their 
religion, and political institutions, that there is every reason to 
211 



A.D. 1206-37.] MONGOLS, GHENGHIS KHAN. [§ 44. 

conclude that they form two distinct nations. The Mongols 
owe their elevation to their first Khan, Ghenghis, whose 
exploits were against the chiefs of other hordes. Emboldened by 
success, he undertook to conquer the world, and at an assembly 
of the chiefs, whose government was absolute and hereditary 
(1206), he was elected Tschinghis, or Ghenghis 
Khan (most great emperor, or khan of khans). The mongols 
raised their hands, and swore to follow their leader, even to 
the end of the earth. Ghenghis broke up the encampments on 
the banks of the Onon and Kerlon (the scene of the election), 
and first subdued the two empires of the Tartars, that of the 
Kin in Eastern Tartary, and in Northern China, and that of 
the Kara Kitai in Western Tartary, whose capital was 
Kasehgar. He next proceeded against the powerful monarchy 
ruled over by Mohammed, the sultan of the Chowarezmians, 
whose dominions extended over nearly the whole of Persia 
(to the Caspian) and Hindostan, or India. The army of 
400,000 brought into the field by the sultan was defeated, and 
Ms country, after six campaigns, completely subdued. The 
country adjacent to the Caspian being already conquered, the 
territories of the Russians were invaded. The Grand Prince of 
Kiov, and other princes, combined, and met the Mongols on the 
banks of the Kalka, when they were signally defeated, and put to 
flight (1224). In 1227, after having subdued the whole of 
Tangut, Ghenghis died, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, not 
however before he had given the Mongol nation laws and regu- 
lations, by which they were to be governed by his successors. 
The sons and grandsons of Ghenghis, followed him in his career 
of victory. The armies of Octai were despatched from central 
China, in which country three of the sons of Ghenghis had 
fixed themselves, into the Corea, and the countries north of the 
Caspian. The khans of Khaptchak, or Kiptschak, were con- 
quered, and the celebrated Grand Duke Nevski, the conqueror 
of Livonia, was vanquished, and compelled to escape to Poland 
(1237); Moscow and Vladimer were razed to the ground, and 
the whole territory resembled a vast desert. Batu and Gayuk 
(the grandsons of Ghenghis) pursued their conquests. The 
battle of Sehiedlow was fought, and Krakow was burned; 
Silesia and Moravia overrun and devastated ; Hungary, after 
a brave resistance on the part of Bela, was wholly subdued, 
and Breslau was committed to the flames. The whole of 
Europe trembled at the approach of the barbarians, who 
212 



§ 44.] Mongols. [1237-58 a.d. 

seemed just on the eve of accomplishing the designs of their 
great predecessor, Ghenghis. The German emperor and the 
pope summoned all Europe to combine against the barbarians ; 
hence a large army assembled, under the command of the 
Silesian duke, who met the Mongols near Lignitz. The battle 
was lost, and the duke was found among the slain. This, the 
most sanguinary battle ever fought in Europe against the 
Orientals, is named the Wahlstatt (battle field), 1242. 
The Mongols who had been engaged in the battle now directed 
their steps towards the south. They were met by the Bohemians, 
on their way through Moravia, at 1 m u t z, and defeated with 
considerable loss. Batu escaped with the remnant of his 
horde to Hungary, and being joined by the other hordes, from 
which he had been separated, once more attacked the Austrian 
dominions. A numerous Christian army, under Wenzel of 
Bohemia, and the dukes of Austria and Carinthia, however, 
opposed and defeated them. The intelligence of the death of 
Octai, khan of China, whose son had ascended the throne, 
induced them to abandon their conquests, and to return to the 
East, laden with an immense amount of spoil. Poland, 
Hungary, and the western countries of Europe, were thus 
saved, but the grand duchy of Vladimer, embracing northern 
and eastern Russia, was tributary for upwards of two centuries. 
The Khan Hoolugoo, undertook the conquest of Baghdat 
(see § 43). 

The native country of this people is found to be nearly the same as 
that occupied by them at the present day. They were ruled over by a 
great khan, resident at Pekin, who was elected by the inferior khans. 
The most powerful were the khans of Khaptchak, on the Wolga, and 
the Jagatai, or Dschagatai, in Turkestan. 



213 



A.D. 1273.] GERMAN EMPIRE RUDOLPH OF HAPSBURG. [§ 45, 



Fourth Period. 

From the termination of the Crusades to the discovery of America, 
1273—1492. 

A. The West. 

§45, 

THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 

8. Kings of different Houses, 1273—1347. 

1. Rudolph of Plapsburg, 1273—1291. 

Germany, from a mighty empire, giving laws to the other countries 
of the West, had at last sunk into contempt. Its crown, so far from 
being an object of ambition to the great feudal nobility of its own soil, 
could scarcely find a wearer, even among the princes of foreign lands. 
The internal wars which existed during the whole of the twenty years 
interregnum, which followed the death of Frederick II., had entirely 
weaned the princes of foreign lands from coveting the crown of the 
empire, while they on the other hand, had created a general feeling 
in the minds of the electoral princes, no less than in the people at large, 
in favour of a native prince. Formerly, at the election of emperor, the 
question was, on which of the great houses shall the royal dignity 
be conferred ; but now, since the overthrow of the house of Hohen- 
staufen, the question at issue was, on whom shall the dignity rest ; 
the person, and not the house, was the consideration : hence the 
dignity was now sought after by the electoral princes themselves. The 
emperor elected did not, however, assume that commanding position, 
with respect to the other princes, which former emperors had considered 
themselves entitled to, from their hereditary rank ; for since the conces- 
sions made to them by Frederick II., which invested them with almost 
imperial dignities within their respective provinces, the royal dignity 
was deprived of a large amount of its revenues ; the feudal lands no 
longer depended upon the emperor, and dignities had become hereditary: 
feudal rights and obligations towards the sovereign, therefore, had to a 
great extent ceased. The relative position of the emperor, with respect to 
the churc h, too, was also considerably altered. The church, formerly, 
sought the interest of the emperor, as its defender and protector ; now 
the church had triumphed over the secular power, and wrested from it 
one of the chief means of its aggrandizement, which it retained for itself, 
in the disposing of preferments, and ecclesiastical dignities. 

The next year after the death of Richard (of Cornwall), 
in 1273, the diet of election was assembled at Frankfort, for 
the purpose of choosing an emperor. On the recommendation 
of Werner, the archbishop of Maynz, Rudolph, the count of 
Hapsburg and Kyburg, was elected, by the votes of all the 
elective princes, excepting that of the Duke of Bavaria, and the 
powerful Duke of Bohemia, who refused to attend personally, 
214 



§ 45.] GERMAN EMPIRE — RUDOLPH OF HAPSBURGH. [1273-91 A.D. 

and whose representatives, not being allowed to take part 
in the election, remonstrated against the decision of the 
electors. On the unexpected news reaching Eudolph, he was 
engaged in besieging the town of Basel, the bishop of which 
had massacred some of the nobles of his family. Rudolph 
proceeded without delay to Aix-la-Chapelle, where he was 
crowned King of the Romans, 1273. Ottocar, the Bohemian 
duke, and Henry, the duke of Lower Bavaria, refusing to do 
homage for their fiefs held from the empire, were cited be- 
fore the assembly; neglecting to appear, their estates were 
declared confiscated. Henry soon after submitted ; but Ottocar 
still defied the emperor, summoned the vassals of the 
crown, and those of his own house, and invaded the Austrian 
dominions, which were soon reduced, while Carinthia, 
Carniola, and Styria, were subdued by the Count of the 
Tyrol, whose daughter had married Albert, the son of 
.Rudolph. The stronghold of Ottocar now was the firmly 
fortified city of Vienna, on the one side of the Danube, while 
the river itself was conceived to be a defence for him on the 
opposite bank, where his army was assembled. Rudolph, 
however, threw a bridge of boats across the river, to the 
utter dismay of the Bohemian king, who now submitted, and 
was compelled to give up the Austrian duchy, with all its 
dependencies. His possessions of Bohemia and Moravia were 
confirmed to him, and, to ensure peace and amity, intermar- 
riages took place between the sons and daughters of the 
emperor, and the Bohemian duke. The emperor, suspicious 
of his rival, remained in Austria, and was not long before he 
discovered the treasonable designs of Ottocar, who, after a 
short struggle, fell on the field of battle (Marchfield). 
Rudolph now possessed the opportunity of enriching his house, 
by the three duchies at his command, viz., Austria, Styria, and 
Carniola. Rudolph was too wise further to strengthen the 
princes of the empire, by dividing among them the vacant 
duchies; he therefore sought to aggrandize his own family, 
and to raise them to a rank in the empire equal to that of the 
other princes. Having obtained the consent of the diet, the 
emperor distributed the vacant duchies and lordships between 
his sons and his son-in-law, the Count Meinham, of Tyrol, 
who had Carinthia. The son of Ottocar, who had married 
Rudolph's daughter, had Bohemia, with the privilege of 
pretaxation, or rights of an electoral prince, which were now 
215 



A.D. 1291-98.] GERMAN EMPIRE ADOLPH. [§ 45. 

removed from Bavaria. The remaining years of the reign 
of Eudolph were occupied in subduing the predatory plun- 
dering of the barons, — a species of brigandage which was as 
destructive to the rights of commerce, as injurious to individual 
interests. He executed a great number of the noble plunderers, 
and demolished hundreds of their castles or strongholds, in 
which they sheltered themselves. In 1291, this vigorous and 
active monarch breathed his last, after a reign of eighteen 
years. 

Eudolph, the noble founder of the present house of Austria, was 
probably a descendant of the ancient dukes of Alemannia ; bis patrimo- 
nial estates were very limited, and bis revenues scanty, yet be did not, Hke 
most of the nobility of bis time, head a banditti, to rob and plunder the 
unprotected merchant or citizen. Rudolph's valour was displayed in con- 
tests with the barons, bis equals, whom be made to contribute to his 
wealth and greatness ; but chiefly in the wars against the Sclaves and 
Hungarians, in wbicb be hired himself and his little band of faithful fol- 
lowers to Ottocar, the Bohemian duke. He owed his elevation, how- 
ever, chiefly to the accidental circumstance of furnishing a military escort 
to the Archbishop of Maynz, whom he conducted to and fro from that 
city to Eome, a passage then highly dangerous ; the manners and con- 
duct of Rudolph, so won upon the mind of the prelate, that he deter- 
mined to advance his interests, and became his sincere friend. On 
the election, the archbishop procured the consent of his two spiritual 
colleagues of Cologne and Treves, and by promises of marriage with the 
daughters of Rudolph, the dukes of Saxony and Bavaria, and the Mar- 
grave of Brandenburg, were brought over ; hence the election of 
Rudolph of Hapsburg was secured, and that of the great and 
powerful Ottocar defeated. Rudolph, however, had to make large 
concessions to the church ; he resigned all feudal supremacy over the 
estates in Tuscany (Matilda's), the march of Ancona, the duchy of 
Spoletum, the kingdom of Naples, and the Roman duchy. He agreed 
never to interfere in ecclesiastical elections, and the appointment of 
bishops, and to allow the pope to settle the disputes of the church within 
the empire, if appealed to. These great concessions were a costly sacrifice 
of the interests of the empire for that of the individual, who sought to ag- 
grandize his house, and to enrich his family. From the condition of a 
poor baron, he rose to be one of the greatest emperors since the days of 
Charlemagne, and at his death, left has family in a condition not inferior 
to the greatest princes of the empire. The nobility, who were not 
ignorant of Rudolph's designs, refused to elect his son as his successor ; 
they thought the crown might even yet become hereditary, and this 
they were determined to oppose and to prevent, as they had done in 
the case of Ottocar, the Bohemian duke. 

2. Adolph of Nassau (1292—1298). The Archbishop 
of Maynz having been entrusted with the votes of the electoral 
princes, to their great dismay, proclaimed a cousin of his own, 
216 



§ 45.] ADOLPH, ALBERT I. [1298-1308 A.D. 

Adolph, who, by his concessions to the church, may be said 
to have purchased the dignity. In order to strengthen the 
interests of his house, he reclaimed the lordships of Idstein and 
Weilburg, and the estates attached to them ; the vacant mar- 
graviate of Meissen, with the East Mark, and Thuringia, 
he purchased of the landgrave, Albrecht the Degenerate, 
but his sons (Frederick with the Bitten Cheek, and Diezman) 
refused to ratify the agreement of their father, and kept pos- 
session of the territories. Adolph, incensed, placed the two 
brothers under the ban of the empire, by which measure they 
were excluded from the right of succession to the Thuringian 
provinces, which were afterwards claimed by the empire. To 
obtain forcible possession, Adolph invaded Thuringia on two 
occasions ; Meissen was overrun and subdued, and such were 
the atrocious cruelties committed by the emperor, that he 
became odious, even in the eyes of his followers. Albert of 
Austria, the son of Rudolph, and the expectant of the vacant 
throne, availed himself of the general disaffection, and as 
the emperor was now pressed for the fulfilment of the 
promises made on his election, and refused to fulfil them, 
the Primate of Maynz, his kinsman, joined the other electors 
in the interests of Albert, and summoned the emperor to appear 
before the diet: this he refused to do, and was condemned 
for contempt, and deposed; when Albert was elected. The 
rival emperors flew to arms ; but on coming to an engagement, 
at the battle of the knights, at Gelheirn, near Vv^orms, the 
feeble and sordid Adolph was slain. 

The Emperor Adolph was of a remarkably covetous disposition ; he 
had engaged at his election to surrender the Ehine dues of Boppard to 
the archbishopric of Maynz, and always evaded fulfilling the compact. 
He also received a large sum of money from Edward I. of England, to 
defray the expenses of an aggressive war upon the French territories of 
Philip, but he neither invaded France, nor returned the money which 
he had received. It is said by some, that he owed the loss of his throne 
to the indulgence of avarice, and that Pope Boniface viii. would not 
authorise a new election, until he had received a large sum of money, as 
a present, from Albert, the new candidate. 

3. Albert i. of Austria, 1298—1308. 

The former election of Albert, during the lifetime of Adolph, had been 
opposed by the Primate of Treves, and the Count Palatine ; hence 
Albert, on the death of his rival, submitted to a re-election by the six 
electoral princes, which took place at Frankfort. 

Albert, like his predecessor, made large concessions to the 
217 l 



A.D. 1298-1307.] GERMAN EMPIRE ALBERT I. [§ 45. 

church, chiefly to the dioceses of Maynz, Cologne, and Treves; 
but he proceeded much further, by granting such immunities 
and exemptions to the electoral and the great princes of the 
empire, that they were virtually independent princes, or 
sovereigns ; they were neither bound to obey the citation of 
the emperor, and, in some cases, not even compelled to assist 
him in time of war with an army. Albert, however, never 
intended to fulfil them, but to exert all his energies in the 
aggrandizement of his house, and, if possible, to render the 
German crown hereditary in his family; he was, however, 
unsuccessful. The first attempt of Albert was on the county 
of Holland, formerly possessed by William, the rival sovereign 
of Frederick n., whose grandson being now dead, the county 
was claimed by the Count of Henegau, a relative on the female 
side ; this claim Albert endeavoured to set aside, and placed the 
count under the ban of the empire. The expedition of Albert 
to the Netherlands, for the purpose of obtaining forcible pos- 
session of it, does not appear to have been successful. 

The emperor next revived the claims of the empire on 
Thuringia and Meissen, but his attempts to wrest it out of 
the hands of Frederick and Diezman were fruitless. Having 
refused to make the surrender of the domains and privileges 
solemnly promised by him at his election, the electors felt 
insulted, and indignant, and Albert was cited to appear before 
the Count Palatine, while the pope commanded his presence at 
Eome, to answer the charge of treason. Albert neither 
regarded the secular nor the spiritual power, but resorted to 
arms. In a short time he defeated the three ecclesiastical 
princes, and the Palatine count. Soon after, Boniface (who 
had excommunicated Philip of France), recognised Albert as 
king, and sought an alliance with him, promising him the 
throne of France, on condition that he conquered it from 
Philip, the enemy of the church. Albert refused to interfere ; 
and Boniface was soon after put to death by the hired assassins 
of Philip. The arms of Albert were now directed against 
Wenceslas, the duke of Bohemia, who died, 1305, and was 
succeeded by his son, Wenceslas v., who expired after a reign 
of only one year : the male • line of the Sclavonic princes in 
Bohemia was now extinct. The emperor accordingly bestowed 
the kingdom upon his son, Albert, as a royal fief. Albert soon 
after dying, Frederick, another son of the emperor, aspired 
to the dignity, and was partially acknowledged by the Bohe- 
218 



§ 45.] ALBERT I., HENRY VII* [1307-8 A.D. 

mians themselves. The partizans of the Duke of Carinthia, 
however, opposed his election, and, on recourse to arms, the 
Duke of Austria was defeated, and Henrich of Carinthia was 
proclaimed king. Albert, disappointed in his endeavours to 
gain possession of Misnia and Thuringia, sought to erect 
another principality out of his great possessions in Suabia, 
Alsace, and Switzerland ; but the imperious conduct of the lieu- 
tenants, G e s s 1 e r and Beringer, whom he had placed over 
the three forest towns of Schwyz, Uri, and Unter- 
walden, induced the citizens to resist the annexation of their 
cities to the contemplated principality: hence they formed 
themselves into a confederacy, under Werner Stauffacher, 
of Schwyz, Walter F ii r s t, of Ottinghausen in Uri, and 
Arnold Melchthal, of Unterwalden, and thirty other 
confederates, including the celebrated William Tell.* 
The governors were surprised and banished, while their castles 
were razed to the ground. The deputies then entered into a 
league for the maintenance of their liberties for ten years, 
reserving, however, to the empire its proper rights. Thus 
was laid the foundation of the Swiss confederacy, 
which, as it was confirmed by an oath, was termed the 
Eidgenossen. Gessler, one of the bailiffs or cantons of 
the emperor, was shot dead by an arrow from the bow of Tell, 
while Laudenberg was seized by strategy in his castle of 
Sarnen, and expelled the country. Albert prepared for war, 
but whether to attack the Bohemians, on behalf of his son, 
Frederick of Austria, or to punish the free mountaineers of the 
three rebel cantons, is not certain. Duke John of Kyburg (Par- 
ricida), whom Albert had refused to invest with the dignities of 
his house, conceived the latter to be the case, and, to prevent 
the emperor from carrying out his iniquitous design, he resolved 
to be revenged. Accordingly he, with four other conspirators, 
met the emperor near the castle of Hapsburg ; they seized the 
reins of his horse, when his nephew exclaimed, " Will you now 
restore my inheritance," and immediately wounded him ; two 

* According to Kopp, there was no bailiff of the name, of Gressler 
oyer any of the cities of the Kreustnacht, and the historical tale 
of William Tell he considered a fiction, alleging that the Danes and 
Icelanders have a story or myth respecting the shooting of an apple from 
off the head of a child. L. Hausser, however, conceives that the 
historical existence of Tell can be fully proved, but thinks the patriotic 
deed consisted in his being the first to refuse to perform the act of 
obeisance to the hat erected by the bailiff. 
219 l 2 



A.D. 1308-13.] GERMAN EMPIRE HENRY VH. [§ 45. 

of the other conspirators joined in the nrarderons attack, and left 
the king weltering in his blood. The traitors fled, and 'with 
the exception of one (Wart), who was seized and broken on 
the wheel, died in obscurity and wretchedness. 

4. Henry vn. of Luxembourg, 1308 — 1313. 

To prevent the hereditary succession of the crown, the 
electors refused to choose the Duke Frederick of Austria. 
While, to frustrate the election of Charles de Valois, the 
brother of Philip of France, the pope prevailed upon the 
Archbishop of Maynz, and the other princes of the empire, not 
to delay the election, but to proceed at once in their choice of 
a successor. Under the influence of the primate, their votes 
were given in favour of the Count of Luxembourg, the brother 
of the Primate of Treves, Henry viil, who signed a 
capitulation, by which the archbishopric of Maynz became 
an independent principality ; and Henry bound himself to 
consult the will of the pope in every important transaction. 
An opportunity of extending the influence of his house, in 
which he was more successful than his predecessors, soon 
presented itself. The Bohemians, disgusted with Henrich, the 
duke of Carinthia, whom they had chosen as their prince 
to the exclusion of Frederick of Austria, resolved upon his 
deposition. The sister of Wenceslas v. (Elizabeth), was taken 
from the convent in which she resided, and affianced to 
the young Prince John, the son of the emperor, who now 
made the duchy a fief of his house. Henry unwisely resolved 
to restore the supremacy of the empire over Lornbardy and 
Tuscany. He acted impartially between the Guelphs and 
the Ghibelines, and endeavoured to reconcile their differences; 
this, however, he found impracticable. The Guelphs were 
still the violent opponents of the German emperors; and on 
the departure of Henry from Lombardy, where he received 
the crown in the church of St. Ambrose (a new crown 
having been provided for the occasion, in the absence of the 
old one, which had been pledged), the Milanese and others 
began to prepare for war. Henry was glad to depart from 
Geneva, on board a Pisan fleet, with his soldiers. Robert 
of Naples opposed the citizens of Florence, who took up arms' 
to resist him. The Pisans, on the contrary, assisted him, and 
furnished him with galleys and crossbow-men, who accom- . 
panied him to Rome, where he was crowned, 1312. The city 
being in the possession of the Neapolitans, none of the soldiers 
220 



§ 45.] LOUIS Vn. AND FREDERICK OF AUSTRIA. [1313-29 A.D. 

of Henry were allowed to enter, and the gates were closed 
during the whole of the ceremony. After his coronation, his 
German army grew weary of the campaign, and, for the most 
part, retired homeward across the Alps. Henry, however, 
nothing daunted, with an Italian army proceeded to Florence, 
but after a while retired without obtaining any advantage. He 
next appeared before Lucca, but retired towards Borne after 
leaving received reinforcements from his brother, the Primate 
of Treves, having heard that the Neapolitans were going to 
join the Florentines, and then to attack him. On his arrival 
at Buon-Convento, he was, after having received the commu- 
nion, suddenly seized with sickness, and expired, probably the 
victim of poison mingled in the consecrated cup. 

On the demise of Henry vn. of the house of Luxembourg, 
there occurred a clashing of rival interests. The Austrian 
house sought the elevation of Frederick, the son of Albert I. ; 
and Duke John of Bohemia, son of the late emperor, although 
he could not oppose the secular electoral princes, in seeking 
his own elevation, from their jealousy of an hereditary suc- 
cession, yet he, with the Primate of Maynz, and other princes, 
resolved to support a prince hostile to the house of Austria, 
and favourable to that of Luxembourg. Hence, on the diet 
assembling at Frankfort, two princes were elected: the Duke 
of Bavaria, Louis vn. (1313 — 1347), a supporter of the 
Luxembourg faction ; and the Duke Frederick of Aus- 
tria (1313 — 1330). Both were crowned kings of the Bo- 
mans; the former at Aix-la-Chapelle, by the Archbishop of 
Mentz; the latter at Bonn, by the Primate of Cologne. A 
civil war was the result. The Swiss, not having forgotten the 
insolence of the First Albert's lieutenants, and his own im- 
perious rule over them, resolved to oppose the Austrian 
interests. This drew down upon them the anger of Frederick, 
who hastened to be revenged. He was, however, signally de- 
feated at Montgarten (1315), as was also his brother, the 
warlike Leopold of Austria. He next advanced against his 
rival, Louis, whom he met between Muhldorf and Ettingen, in 
the Bavarian duchy. He was defeated, and, with Henry of 
Austria, taken prisoner by the great commander Schwepper- 
mann, who led the army of Ludovic. Frederick was confined 
in the castle of Fraunitz, where he was kindly treated. Louis 
having assisted the Ghibelines of Lombardy, which compelled 
the Guelphs to raise the siege of Milan, the pope excommuni- 
221 



A.D. 1330-46.] GERMAN EMPIRE LOUIS VII. [§ 45. 

cated and deposed him ; and the ecclesiastical electors endea- 
voured to set Charles of Valois upon the throne. This event, 
and the disaffection of John of Bohemia, who transferred his 
support to the Austrian house, led Louis at once to seek a 
reconciliation. Frederick was liberated on renouncing his 
claim to the empire. The princes and the pope opposing this 
arrangement, Frederick again surrendered himself, an act 
which Louis rewarded by engaging with Frederick to rule 
conjointly. This agreement was also objected to, when Louis 
suggested that he should make Italy the seat of his govern- 
ment, while Frederick should remain in Germany. Meanwhile 
the support of the Austrian house, Leopold, died, and not very 
long after, the death of Frederick took place, 1330. Thus 
Louis was left in full possession of the empire. The vindic- 
tive pope, however, resolved, if possible, to dispossess him, and 
placed it under an interdict. Louis, on the other hand, 
granted immense privileges to the house of Austria, conferring 
upon it also the duchy of Carinthia, and the county of the 
Tyrol. Louis next marched into Lombardy, in open defiance 
of the pope, and received the Langobardian crown. Proceed- 
ing thence to Rome, where he was crowned King of the 
Romans, he gave directions for the choice of an anti-pope 
(Nicholas v.). An imperial diet at Frankfort (1338) 
had declared that the pope held no temporal power ivithin the 
empire, and that the sovereign chosen by the electoral princes, 
became the legitimate sovereign without the confirmation of the 
pope ; and that all persons who supported the contrary opinion 
should be guilty of high treason. The emperor was authorised 
to remove the interdict which had been laid upon the empire 
by the pope. This resolution had been preceded by a 
league ratified at Rense, termed " The General Union 
of the Electors" which added, that on the refusal of the pope 
to crown, the ceremony might be performed by any of the 
bishops of the empire. The pontiff, Clement vi., however, 
disregarded these proceedings, and renewed the sentence which 
deposed the emperor, and exhorted the electors to proceed to 
a new election. Louis, who in some degree feared the curse 
of the church, became a humble suppliant for absolution, but 
it was refused; and the pope's ally, the Duke of Bohemia, 
now openly arrayed himself against him. This prince had 
been his silent enemy from the day that Louis presented the 
duchy of Carinthia and the county of the Tyrol to the mem- 
222 



§ 45.] CHAELES IV. GOLDEN BULL. [1347-56 A.D. 

bers of the Austrian house. Under the auspices of the pope 
and the French king, the Duke of Bohemia was raised to the 
throne, 1346; and Louis expired in the midst of the troublous 
scenes which followed (1347). 

During his reign, Loui3 enriched his house by many valuable pos- 
sessions. 1st. On the extinction of the Ascanian house, he presented 
the mark of Brandenburg, as a fief, to his son Louis, to the exclusion 
of the collateral branches of Saxony and Anhalt. It was surrendered 
in 1373. 2nd. He added the Tyrol to his possessions by divorcing 
the Countess Margaret Maultash of Tyrol, from her husband (John of 
Bohemia), and uniting her in marriage with his son Louis, the mar- 
grave of Brandenburg, granting him a dispensation, because of the too 
close relationship of the parties. He also, 3rd, confiscated the counties 
of Holland, Zealand, Friesland, and Hennegau, as vacant or lapsed fiefs 
of the empire. 

The French interest, which was dominant in the empire at this 
period, was chiefly owing to the fact that the popes, who, with the car- 
dinals, were French, resided at Avignon, and were the tools of the 
French monarch : hence the hostility of the papal church to the pro- 
gress of constitutional freedom in Germany, and the treacherous con- 
duct displayed in their Italian politics. At length the pontiffs of 
Avignon, by their gross immoralities, dark intrigues, and boundless 
ambition, disgusted even the most zealous and faithful adherents of the 
papal church. Hence, to be further removed from French domination, 
Clement VI. exerted himself to fix the seat of the popedom again at 
Rome, and so terminate the " Captivity." Avignon, and the surround- 
ing country, was, however, first purchased, and secured to the holy see 
as a part of its patrimony. 

b) Kings of the House of Bohemia — Luxem- 
bourg. 

1. Charles iv., 1347—1378. 

Charles of Bohemia had been elected king of the 
Romans twelve months before the death of Louis, and as he 
had obtained the dignity chiefly through the instrumentality 
of the church, he had been called upon at his election to sign 
a capitulation, alike disgraceful to himself and those electors 
by whom he was supported. Hence many of the princes now 
hesitated to confirm his election, and sought a rival in Gonther, 
the count of Schwartzenburg, who, however, was soon removed 
from the contest by death, — according to some, by poison, at 
the instigation of Charles, who now was firmly seated on the 
throne. 

The efforts of Charles were now directed to the internal administra- 
tion, in which he effected some remarkable and important changes. To 
remedy the disputes attendant upon the undetermined and ill-defined 
form of election to the imperial dignity which had hitherto been 
223 



A.D. 1356-77.] GERMAN EMPIRE CHARLES IV. [§ 45. 

adopted by the diets, lie issued, at the diets of Nurembiirg and Metz, 
held 1356, an imperial edict, termed the G-olden Bxxll (from the. 
golden seal appended to it). By this famous document — 1st, the num- 
ber of the electors was fixed, agreeably to ancient custom, at seven. 
Three of these were to be ecclesiastical princes — the archbishops of 
Mentz, Treves, and Cologne, and four secular princes — the duke of 
Saxony (who was, with the count palatine, to rule the empire during 
the absence of the monarch, or between the death of one and the elec- 
tion of another to the throne), the king or duke of Bohemia, the mar- 
grave of Brandenburg, and the comit palatine (of the Shine). 2nd. 
The right was to be exercised by those princes who held the high offices 
of the state, with which it was to remain inseparable. Thence, 3rdly, 
these dignities were made hereditary in certain families ; the duke of 
Bohemia was to remain grand cup bearer, the palatine count of the 
Shine grand seneschal, the duke of Saxony grand marshall, and the 
margrave of Brandenburg grand chamberlain. These again, 4thly, had 
their hereditary deputies, namely ; count of Limburg, the lord of Fiir- 
stemburg, the baron of Pappenheim, and the count of Falkenstein. 
5th. One month after the death of any sovereign, the primate of Maynz 
was to summon the electors to meet at Frankfort, within three months, 
either personally, or by an accredited representative. The election was 
to be determined by the number of votes, and the consecration to take 
place at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), by the archbishop of Cologne. 6th. 
The division of the glebe to which the electoral title was affixed, could 
neither be partitioned or alienated. The order of succession called 
agnate, was introduced with respect to these principalities : hence they, 
with the right of voting, passed from the father to the eldest son, or in 
default of male issue, to the nearest heir male of the family. 7th. The 
electoral princes ranked above all other princes of the empire, and 
crimes committed against them constituted high treason. 8th. They 
exercised in their respective principalities unlimited power, and neither 
in civil or ecclesiastical matters was there any appeal from then* deci- 
sions. 9th. The first diet of the sovereign was always to be held at 
Nwemburg. 

The energies of Charles were restricted to the aggrandize- 
ment of his hereditary kingdom, Bohemia : of the interests of 
the empire lie was totally regardless. By a series of iniqui- 
tous treaties, or family compacts, lie contrived to bring Bran- 
denburg, Silesia, Lusatia, and a portion of the Upper Palati- 
nate, into the possession of his family. In furtherance of his 
designs, lie laid the foundation of the first German university, 
that of Prague (1348), which soon numbered from 7,000 to 
8,000 students. He cultivated the acquaintance of men of 
learning and genius, whom he invited to his kingdom. Legis- 
lation was improved, and the laws better administered; com- 
merce was extended, and the industry and prosperity of 
Bohemia promoted to the utmost extent of his power. In 
224 



§ 45.] CONFEDERATIONS OF THE TOWNS, ETC. [1247-1388 A.D. 

1377, Charles procured the election of his son Wenceslas, as 
king of the Romans, which was the height of his ambition. 
It was, however, dearly bought; 100,000 florins are said to 
have been paid for each vote, raised from the sale of the royal 
domains and revenues of the crown, and the granting of more 
extensive privileges to the imperial cities. Charles twice 
passed over into Italy; on the first occasion to be crowned, 
and on the second to maintain the supremacy of the empire. 
He also, through the interest of the Archbishop of Maynz, 
received the crown of Aries, but totally neglected the interests 
of his subjects, who were made the victims of his rapacity. 
Charles was succeeded by Wenzel, or Wenceslas, his eldest 
son. 

During the reign of Charles rv., the towns and cities rose 
into considerable importance, and obtained greater privileges 
and immunities than before. Large sums of money were 
indeed paid as the price of them, but then the grants or ad- 
vantages received were fully equivalent in value to the con- 
tribution. These free or imperial cities were exempted from 
all control from without; they were self-governed, and were 
perfectly free to form alliances, declare war, and make peace; 
while the right of settling their own amount of taxation was 
vested in them. From the imperial towns, which by their 
guilds and. corporations secured that protection which was 
necessary for the unrestricted progress of their commerce, 
sprung those confederacies and leagues for common protection 
which, during this period, were so augmented, and which had 
their model in that of Lombardy. 

a) Confederacies of Towns. — At the close of 
Charles's reign, the number had increased to five. 1. The 
German Hansa, now at the zenith of its greatness (comp. § 58). 
2. The confederacy of the seven Frisian maritime 
districts, for the defence of their liberties against the 
attacks of the neighbouring princes. • 3. The Rhenish 
confederacy (of towns on the Rhine) against the oppres- 
sions arising out of the Rhine dues (1247), to which not only 
the towns on the Rhine, from Basel to Cologne, belonged, but 
also several important ones in other parts of the empire, as 
Nuremburg, Ratisbon, &c. 4. The Swiss confederacy, 
which was augmented by the addition of the towns of Lucerne, 
Zurich, Zug, Berne, and the canton of Glarus. 5. The Sua- 
bian confederacy, raised against the rapacity of Charles 
225 i3 



A.D. 1378-85.] GERMAN EMPIRE WENZEL. [§ 45. 

rv., who attempted to pawn or to sell their revenues, and Count 
Eberhard of Wirtemberg, who oppressed them. 

b) The Confederacies oftheNobilitv, formed to 
protect themselves from the attacks of the cities of the league, 
the inhabitants of which, after a while, became aggres- 
sors, and sallied forth from their walled towns, to demolish 
indiscriminately the castles and strongholds of the nobility, 
and to overrun their domains ; while they also encouraged 
the slaves to forsake their feudal masters, and take shelter in 
their towns. These leagues had their rise in Suabia and the 
Rhenish provinces, and soon extended to Saxony and Bavaria. 
Among them were the league of the Order of St. George 
(Suabia), and those of the Martin, the Lion, and the 
Falcon, &c. The nobles who formed those leagues against 
the towns and cities, endeavoured to maintain their feudal 
supremacy, and even to subdue the imperial cities : hence the 
empire was never at peace; and subsequently arose another 
confederation, which consisted alike of princes and cities. 

2. Wenzel, or Wenceslas, 1378—1400 (1410). 

Wenceslas, by the will of his father, had Bohemia and 
Silesia, with the Upper Palatinate; and on the death of his 
uncle Wenzel, who died childless, he received Luxembourg. 
His brother Sigismund had the mark of Brandenburg assigned 
to him, to prevent the holding of two votes in the election by 
one prince. The third brother, John, became duke of Lusatia, 
and his two sons, Jodacus (John) and Procopius, had Moravia. 
The first ten years of the reign of Wenceslas were spent in 
endeavours to restore the peace of the empire and the church. 
For this purpose he made repeated attempts to unite the whole 
of the confederacies into one, that a general peace might 
follow throughout the empire ; and at a diet held in the im- 
perial city of Nuremburg (1385), he issued an edict com- 
manding a peace of twelve years. Twelve months, however, 
had scarcely elapsed, when the tranquillity of the empire was 
broken by the Austrian duke Leopold. He had purchased of 
the emperor, for 40,000 golden florins, the baillages of Feld- 
kirch and Fluding, with Augsburg, a proceeding which, 
as it brought the possessions of the Austrian house nearer to 
their frontiers, naturally created suspicions in the minds of 
the Swiss. Leopold having placed bailiffs in the cities, who 
severely oppressed them by their haughty demeanor and un- 
just exactions, an insurrection was the consequence. The 
226 



§ 45.] WENZEL, OR WENCESLAS. [1386-1400 A.D. 

Swiss marched to Bothenburg, and destroyed several of the 
strongholds of the Austrians, and also admitted into its com- 
munity the Austrian districts of Entlibuch, Sempach, and 
Richensee. At length, Leopold himself arrived in Switzer- 
land, with 4,000 picked men, and resolved to crush the liber- 
ties of the rising cities. On approaching Sempach, the battle 
began, but the Swiss could not, at first, make any impression 
upon the close armed ranks of the Austrians. The heroism 
and self-devotion of Arnold of Winkelried, an Un- 
terwalden knight, however, opened a way for his countrymen, 
who rushed into the gap, and created a general panic in the 
Austrian army, which was totally routed. Leopold, and more 
than six hundred titled nobles, fell in the battle, besides up- 
wards of 1,500 men at arms. The loss of the Swiss was only 
200 men (1386). The sons of Leopold continued the war, 
but they were defeated at Naefels, when the liberties of the 
Helvetic confederacy were secured (1388). Meanwhile, many 
of the inferior nobles joined the cities and towns, to preserve 
their domains from being despoiled ; while, on the other hand, 
the nobility formed counter leagues, and strengthened those 
which were already established. In 1388, the war between 
the nobles and cities again broke out. The Duke of Bohemia 
had wantonly attacked the imperial city of Salzburg, and 
seized the archbishop. South-western Germany was ravaged 
by the Suabian and Ehenish confederacies, who, however, 
proved too weak to withstand the powerful Count Eberhard of 
Wirtemberg, who defeated them at Dofimgen, and at Worms, 
with great slaughter. Wenzel now called a diet at Egerand, 
and induced the princes and towns to consent to a truce for six 
years, which he ratified. An imperial edict was also issued, 
which declared the recently-formed confederation dissolved. 
Four deputies from the nobles, and four from the cities, were 
now appointed to decide any disputes which might arise be- 
tween them, whose decision was to be final. The settlement 
of these measures again relieved Wenceslas from the cares of 
the state, and he retired to his kingdom of Bohemia, again to 
resume his accustomed habits of cruelty and debauchery. At 
length he became so odious to the Bohemians, that they rose 
against him, and confined him in a prison at Prague, from 
which he, however, escaped. On being again taken, through 
the influence of his youngest brother, John, he was once more 
restored to liberty. 
227 



A.D. 1400-1.] GERMAN EMPIRE RUPERT, OR ROBERT. [§ 45. 

That Wenzel cared little about the interests of the empire, 
was apparent from his conduct. He, however, did not neglect 
to withdraw large sums of money from its treasury, for the 
gratification of his passions ; and when these did not suffice, 
he pawned or sold the revenues of the imperial cities and 
towns, while he also received large sums from the sale of 
titles, and portions of the royal domains. The grievances of 
the nobility were therefore great. Wenceslas cared as little 
for his Italian as for his German subjects, and disgusted them 
also by his rapacious conduct. He, 1st, gave umbrage to the 
Germans no less than to the Lombardians, by the sale of the 
duchy of Milan, to Gian Galeazzo, of the house of the Visconti, 
for 100,000 florins. 2. He entered into an agreement with 
the French monarch, to effect the downfall of the Eoman pon- 
tiff, Boniface ix., the rival of the Avignon pontiff, Benedict 
xin. This excited against Wenceslas the revenge of the Arch- 
bishop of Mentz, who had obtained his dignity through 
Benedict; and he, with the two other ecclesiastical prelates, 
and the Count Palatine, assembled a diet of the princes at 
Oberlahnstein, who cited the emperor to appear before them, 
to explain the charges brought against him: on his neglecting 
so to do, the throne was declared vacant (1400). 

Rupert, or Robert, 1400 — 1410. 

On the deposition of Wenceslas, there were difficulties as to 
the appointment of a successor, not easy of removal. Wen- 
ceslas, the duke of Bohemia, and Sigismund, margrave of 
Brandenburg, the sons of the deposed emperor, jealous of each 
other, would not sanction their own degradation by the elec- 
tion of a prince not of their own house. The Duke of Saxony, 
perceiving that the electors were about to choose a prince 
obnoxious to him, refused to take any part in the proceedings. 
To prevent his manifesting active opposition by an appeal to 
arms, he was arrested. The choice of the electors fell on the 
feeble Count Palatine, Robert: thus, at this period, there 
were two popes and two German emperors. Robert's adminis- 
tration, notwithstanding his many good qualities, was unfor- 
tunate. He was neither able to secure the tranquillity of 
Germany, nor to restore peace in Lombardy, now virtually cut 
off from the empire by the iniquitous and unjust sale of the 
duchy of Milan to the Yiscontis. Robert, who had failed in 
an expedition against Bohemia, undertaken with the view of 
compelling Wenceslas to renounce his claims upon the empire, 
228 



§ 45.] JOBST, SIGISMUND. [1401-14 A.D. 

passed tlie Alps, that he might receive the crown at Roine, 
and so render his position more secure. He also demanded of 
the Duke of Milan the renunciation of the title and the do- 
mains, and, with an army; endeavoured to compel him; but 
on his arrival, he found the cavalry of Milan more than a 
match for the heavy-armed German troops, and was forced to 
a hasty and disgraceful retreat, without being able to proceed 
to Rome (1401). In endeavouring to restore the prerogatives 
of the crown in Germany, he was opposed by the greater 
majority of the princes, who leagued against his encroach- 
ments, and were, in fact, the real sovereigns of the state. 
Robert was not more successful against the leagued cities and 
towns, which refused the subsidies required of them, and bid 
the armies of the emperor open defiance. At length the 
leagued princes, dissatisfied with Robert's government, met at 
Marbach, and openly declared for the Bohemian king, Wen- 
ceslas ; but his sudden and unexpected death averted the 
catastrophe of a civil war. 

On the demise of Robert, the electors were divided into 
three parties; one seemed to favour the cause of Wenceslas 
(who was at their head), alleging that there was a king already 
elected ; and the two other parties were for the legal deposition 
of Wenceslas, but disagreed as to whom they should elect, 
some being in favour of his brother, Sigismund, margrave 
of Brandenburg and king of Hungary, and others choosing 
rather to elect his cousin-german, J o b s t (Jodocus), mar- 
grave of Moravia. Thus there were for a time, three kings of 
the Romans. The death of the margrave, before his coro- 
nation, however, saved the empire from the horrors of civil 
war, and the party of Sigismund, being strengthened by the 
adherents of the margrave, the former was duly elected, and 
Unanimously acknowledged King of the Romans, Wenceslas, 
himself, also abdicating in favour of his brother. 

Sigismund, 1410—1437. 

The reign of Sigismund was marked by the beginning of 
several important affairs. 1. The wars between the heathen 
Poles and the knights of the German order, against the 
Venetians. 2. The Hungarian war, on the death of 
Wenceslas, against the emperor, whom that people refused to 
acknowledge. 3. The Lombardian struggle for independence, 
under their duke, Yisconti, and the Venetians, which occupied 
Sigismund until his coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle, 1414, and 
229 



A.D. 1409-10.] GERMAN EMPIRE SIGISMUND. [§ 45. 

terminated unsuccessfully. Aiter his coronation, lie proceeded 
to hold the council of Constance, called by him, and which was 
a sort of European congress, having for its object, 1st, The 
entire suppression of the Papal schism (the 
existence of three rival popes), and 2nd, The extirpation 
of heresy (the Hussites of Bohemia, Wycliffites). 

a) The entire suppression of the Papal schism. For upwards 
of seventy years the popes had resided in the city of Avignon, 
on the Rhone, and for the last forty years the cardinals, both 
of France and Italy, had each elected a pope. This schism, 
the council of Pisa (1409), was summoned to suppress. 
Gregory xii. and Benedict xni. were deposed, and Alexander i. 
elected in their stead, as the legitimate head of the papal 
church. After his death, John xxiii. was appointed as his 
successor, but as the two formerly deposed popes refused to 
resign, the evil was increased. There were now three rival 
popes, neither of whom, profiting by the existence of the schism, 
was anxious to give way. In the following year (1410), 
Sigismund convoked a general council, to be held at 
Constance, which the popes strenuously endeavoured to avert, 
but in vain. The council, in order to counteract the prepon- 
derance of the numerous Italian prelates, divided itself into four 
sections, according to the nations of which it was composed, 
namely, the Italian, French, German, and English, to which 
was afterwards added a fifth vote, that of the Spaniards; 
hence, each nation deliberated separately, and gave their votes 
in common, so that the general decision was taken, agreeably to 
the votes of the different nations, and not individually. This 
new system of voting sealed the fate of the Roman pope, 
John xxih., who was at once deposed. The two others being 
compelled to abdicate, Martin v. was elected as sole pope in 
their room, but as the Roman states were not yet subjected 
to the papal see, the residence of Martin was fixed at Florence. 

b) The extirpation of heresy. The writings of Wycliffe 
(the Oxford theologian), were directed against the monks 
and their establishments (Monachism), the supremacy of 
the pope, and transubstantiation, with other doctrines, 
levelled against the corrupt dogmas of the Roman Catholic 
church. These writings had been carried into Bohemia, by 
Jerome of Prague (Hierosnymus Faulfisch), and having been 
translated, were distributed, and created a great impression on 
the minds of several professors in the university of that city, 

230 



§ 45.] PERSECUTION OF THE HUSSITES. [1414-15 A.D. 

among whom was the celebrated John Huss, confessor to the 
Queen of Bohemia. At this period, the Bohemian church was 
divided into two classes of theologians, the realists and the 
nominalists, which sects pervaded the whole of Germany, and 
whose'principal point of contention was the existence, or non- 
existence of abstract, or universal ideas. Besides this abstruse 
philosophical difference, the realists, who were Bohemians, 
had also a national antipathy to the German nominalists, who 
far out-numbered them, and possessed the dignities and 
revenues of the church. John Huss identified himself with 
his countrymen, and in spite of all the prohibitions of the 
Archbishop of Prague, who pronounced his sermons and 
discourses as pernicious and heretical, continued to inveigh 
against the errors of the papal church, especially against 
indulgences, purgatory, and prayers for the dead, devised 
only to enrich the dignitaries of the church. In 1414, Huss 
was cited to appear before the council, now assembled at 
Constance; and to secure himself against the malice of his 
enemies, procured a safe conduct from the Emperor Sigismund. 
On his arrival at Constance, the cardinals imprisoned him, nor 
was he released, even on the application of Sigismund, who 
complained of this violation of the imperial passport. On the 
arrival of the emperor to preside at the council, the hopes of 
Huss, who expected to have been liberated, were blighted; 
the emperor refused to interfere, and abandoned him to the 
will of the council. On the 5th January, 1415, Huss appeared 
before the council, but he had been condemned before he could 
be heard. Every art was tried in order to procure his 
recantation, but in vain; he was delivered over to the secular 
arm of the Elector Palatine, and condemned to be burned, 
without delay. He sung psalms amidst the flames, the smoke 
from which suffocated him, before the fire reached his body. 
The disturbances created in Bohemia by the death of Huss, 
did not deter the council from proceeding against his disciple, 
Jerome, who on the departure of the former from Prague, 
engaged to follow him to Constance, where he arrived (1415) 
shortly before he suffered martyrdom. A few days after 
the murder of Huss, Jerome was had before the council, 
and, previous to his second examination, was induced to 
retract his sentiments ; he was, however, unjustly detained in 
a loathsome prison. A few months after his recantation, he 
demanded a public audience of the council, when, with 
231 



A3), 1419-36.] GERMAN EMPIRE HUSSITE WAR. [§ 45. 

masterly eloquence, he denounced the act which had in his 
weakness been wrung from him, and declared his willingness 
to die in the defence of the doctrines of Wycliffe and Huss, 
the latter of whom he now regarded as a martyr and a 
saint.- On being brought to the stake, he was engaged, like 
Huss, in the chaunting of psalms and hymns, until the fire 
terminated his sufferings. 

c) Ee formation of the Church (in the head, and 
in the body). From the middle of the thirteenth century, 
the reform of the church had been loudly demanded by the 
laity; and at the close of the fourteenth, and the commence- 
ment of the fifteenth centuries, many of the cardinals, with a 
large number of ecclesiastical dignitaries, openly proclaimed 
that the reformation of the church' was necessary for its 
salvation. The council of Constance, not being satisfied with 
the measures of reform suggested by the Pope Martin v., 
separated, without effecting the desired changes. The pope, 
in order to meet the more pressing calls upon him, from the 
five nations, for reform, dealt with each separately, (with the 
exception of Italy), and granted concordats, which were to 
remain in force for five years; these concessions, however, 
were ineffectual, and did not obtain the general sanction of 
the church. On the appeal of the five nations to Sigismund, 
to compel the pope to hasten the work of reformation, the 
emperor severely replied, " I urged you, before the election 
took place, to procure a reformation: I have no power now." 

At this council, the solemn enfeoffment of the Burgrave 
Frederick vi. of Nuremburg, of the house of Hoken- 
z oil en, took place (1417), who had purchased of Sigismund the 
margraviate of Brandenburg, for 400,000 ducats, or Hun- 
garian florins (1415). 

The Hussite War, 1419—1436. 

Nicholas Hussinatz, the proprietor of the domains in which 
the martyr, Huss, had been born, resolved to avenge the fate of 
his vassal, and was appointed to be the leader of the Hussites. 
Accompanied by his followers, he demanded of Wenceslas, 
the Bohemian king, permission to seize some of the churches 
out of the hands of the Romanists, in which to celebrate 
Divine service according to the reformed church. The em- 
peror refused; and they assembled upon a mountain, where 
they built a town and fortress, to which they gave the name 
of Tabor: hence they were called Taborites. These, the 
232 



§ 45.] WARS AGAINST TEE HUSSITES. [1436-7 A.D. 

most upright of the followers of Huss, elected as their 
military commander a valiant knight, John Zisca, and soon 
after, in consequence of a gross insult, they entered the council 
hall of Prague, and threw thirteen of the chief magistrates 
out of the windows upon the spears of the troops, and kept 
possession of the city, the fortress alone holding out against 
them. These acts of the Hussites so enraged the emperor that 
he soon after died of an apoplectic fit. Sigismund, who suc- 
ceeded to the crowns of Germany and Bohemia, carried on 
the war against the Hussites, especially in Silesia, where it 
was most sanguinary; and at last the emperor, with the 
flower of his nobility, and a vast army (160,000), appeared 
before Prague, resolving to extirpate them, but 12,000 of 
his troops having fallen in one engagement, a truce was ne- 
gotiated. The demands of the Hussites were reluctantly com- 
plied with, and Sigismund was crowned in the fortress of the 
city, which he soon after left* with his army, to resist the ag- 
gressions of the Turks. The suspension of arms, on account of 
the treaty, was short. The Hussites, however, were generally 
victorious, and the cruelties and excesses committed on both 
sides were incredible. Papal legates and German armies were 
alike vanquished. The battle of Deutschbrod proved more 
sanguinary than the assault before Prague. At last, worn 
out and mortified by his repeated failures, Sigismund resigned 
the Bohemian territory to Zisca, on condition of his holding 
it as a vassal. Zisca, now upwards of seventy years old, blind 
with both eyes, having lost them in battle, lived just long enough 
to receive the proposals from the emperor, when he died, 1424. 
On the death of Zisca, which was a source of grief to the 
whole body of the Hussites, there arose a party who, counting 
Zisca as their parental leader, formed the sect of the Orphans, 
and did not select another military leader. The majority, how- 
ever, termed from Calix (a cup), Calixtenes, chose as their chief, 
Procopius Easo, or the Great, who eventually included within 
his sphere of government the Orphans also. The wars of the 
Hussites began to assume an aggressive form. They made 
incursions into Hungary, Austria, Bavaria, and Saxony ; even 
Vienna was threatened with a siege. The emperor, and his 
ablest generals, were always beaten, although superior in 
numbers; and all attempts at negotiation failed. Their deci- 
sive victory over the Cardinal Julia, and 100,000 German 
troops, however, compelled the Komanists to be more yielding. 
233 



A.D. 1433-9.] GERMAN EMPIRE — -ALBERT II. [§45. 

The council of Basel, by its deputies, who met at Prague, 
was compelled to yield to their permission to receive the cup, 
under certain restrictions, and to celebrate Divine worship 
in the language of the people (1433). These concessions, 
however, were made only to serve the interests of the 
papal church, which now, by bribes and promises, fostered 
the divisions which had sprung up among the reformers, and 
which ultimately led to their ruin. Prague was recovered, 
and the brave Procopius fell in the action. The Calixtenes, 
who had now joined the Romanists, with their armies 
pursued the Taborites, and again defeated them at Lisan. 
The emperor now once more renewed his negotiations, and 
the papal legates sanctioned the unrestricted use of the 
cup: thus peace was for a while again restored. Sigismund, 
however, with his usual duplicity, performed none of his 
promises, but filled the churches with Bomanists, and banished 
the Hussites from his court. He died on the eve of another 
outbreak (1437), without male issue. 

The followers of Huss were first of all split into two sects : the Cali& 
tenes, who insisted upon the restitution of the cup to the laity, or 
communion in both kinds, the wine, as well as the wafer or bread ; and 
the Taborites, or Hot elites, the least wealthy and dignified of the 
reformers, who demanded the abolition of all popish errors and 
ceremonies, and very nearly resembled the Waldenses. The Calixtenes, 
who only differed from the Romanists on the subject of communion in 
both kinds, were subsequently induced to form a Catholic league, and 
to join the Romanists against the Taborites and the Orphans, who 
combined for their mutual defence. In 1453, a large body of the 
Hussites, under Michael Bradazius, formed the society of " The 
United Brethren." Idolatrous rites were forbidden, as well as abstinence 
from carnal or warlike weapons for the defence of religion. The 
Adamites were a body of fanatics, who were commanded to appear 
always in a state of nudity ; their disgusting and savage conduct at 
length led to their utter extermination by the Hussite leader, Zisca. 

c) Kings of the house of Austria, since 
1439. 

1. Albert u. of Austria (1437 — 1439), was the son-in- 
law of Sigismund, and already king of Hungary and Bohemia. 
He was unanimously elected emperor by the princes, at 
Frankfort, and does not appear to have entered into any 
compact with the electoral princes, as the price of the dignity. 
He expelled the Polish king, Casimer, from Bohemia, and 
caused himself to be recognised as king, introducing many 
sound regulations for the peace and safety of that distracted 
234 



§ 45.] FREDERICK HI. [1440-58 A.D. 

country. He died, after a short reign of two years, while 
defending his Hungarian frontiers from the attacks of the 
Turks, under Amurath, who had entered Transylvania. 

2. Frederick in. (1440—1493), duke of Styria, and 
cousin of Albert n., was the last of the German emperors 
crowned at Rome. His reign was long (fifty-three years), but 
troublesome. Soon after the death of Albert n., his wife, the 
queen, gave birth to a son, Ladislas the Posthumous, who was 
by inheritance duke of Austria, and king of Hungary and 
Bohemia: Frederick n., as the. next in succession, was his 
legitimate guardian. Uladislas, the king of Poland, being 
invited by the Hungarians to accept the crown, a civil war 
broke out, and the empress was compelled to fly with her son 
into Austria. Frederick armed in defence of his nephew, but 
was compelled to sign a truce, by which the crown of Hungary 
was lost to Poland. In Bohemia, Frederick was also unsuc- 
cessful; the Romanists and Calixtenes agreed to acknowledge 
Ladislas, on condition that the internal government should be 
vested in the hands of native regents. The Romanists and 
Hussites chose each their chief, and both endeavoured to obtain 
the ascendancy; Podeibrad, the Hussite regent, however, 
drove Count Meinhard from the seat of power, and exercised the 
supreme authority alone. In 1444, Uladislas, the Pole, fell in 
the battle of Varna, against the Turks, and the throne of 
Hungary was again vacant. The Hungarians now demanded, 
as their legitimate sovereign, the youthful prince, Ladislas, in 
which they were also joined by the Bohemians, and seconded 
by the Austrians. Frederick, however, would not yield up 
the prince, and the Hungarians, under their celebrated regent, 
John Hunniades, with their confederates, besieged the emperor, 
in Neustadt. Frederick was compelled to yield, and Ladislas 
was conveyed in triumph to Hungary, where he confirmed 
Hunniades in his regency, and, on his return through Bohemia, 
confirmed Podeibrad, also, in the regency of that kingdom. 
Hunniades expired, soon after his splendid victory over the 
Turks before Belgrade, and Ladislas himself, hated by his sub- 
jects for his bigotry and cruel conduct, died prematurely, hi 
Prague, to which place he had escaped, to avoid the effects of 
their revenge, 1458. Frederick was now undisputed heir to the 
crowns of Bohemia and Hungary, but could obtain neither. 
The former was placed on the head of Podeibrad, the regent 
(1459), the latter was conferred upon Matthias Corvinus 
235 



A.D. 1459-77.] GERMAN EMPIRE FREDERICK III. [§45. 

(1460), by whom it was subequently purchased for 60,000 
ducats. Austria was nearly wrested from him by his brother, 
Albert, but through the interposition of Podeibrad, he secured 
the upper territories, and an annual tribute from Albert, of 
4,000 ducats. In 1490, twenty-seven years after the death of 
Albert, it was annexed to the crown of Hungary. Frederick, 
by his neglect of the imperial revenues, and of the frontier 
provinces, and his unqualified submission to the court of 
Rome, failed to procure the attachment of the German princes, 
who considered him incapable of defending either the interests 
of the empire, or his own hereditary states. Even when the 
Turks, after the Dissolution of the Byzantine 
Empire, by the Conquest of Constantinople, 
1453, assumed a position dangerous to the. empire, Frederick 
contented himself with the calling of diets, which he neglected 
to meet. 

In 1442, Zurich, which had detached itself from the Swiss 
confederacy (the Eidgenosse n), in consequence of disputes 
respecting the domains of Count Toggenburg, formed an alliance with 
Frederick, who, with his army, marched to Zurich, thinking that he 
might be able to recover the lost possessions of the Hapsburg house. 
The Zurichers and Frederick were vanquished, when the latter engaged 
the (Filii Belial) Armagnacs against the Swiss, to the amount of 30,000 
men ; these were met at Brattelen by a small body of Swiss soldiers, 
consisting of not more than 1,200 men,"'l,190 of whom were left dead on 
the field of battle, ten only remaining, while thousands of men and horses 
belonging to the Armagnacs also strewed the field. In 1446, a peace 
was concluded, and Zurich was compelled to break off its connection 
with Austria, and to join the confederacy. In 1460, the Archduke 
(since 1453) Sigismund of Austria, cousin of Frederick, having offended 
the pope, the latter called upon the Swiss to seize his domains, a call 
which they were not slow in obeying. Thus, the Hapsburg possessions 
in Helvetia were wholly lost to the house of Austria, until the end of the 
eighteenth century. In Italy, Frederick's authority, as in Grerniany, 
was merely nominal, for on the seizm-e of the Milan Duchy by the 
cruel and crafty Francesco Sforza, on the extinction of the 
house of Visconti (147 7,) he merely contented himself with withholding 
the enfeoffment, which Sforza did not care to purchase ; he even avoided 
an entrance into the duchy to receive the crown of Lombardy : hence, he 
went through the ceremony of a double coronation in Home (1452). In 
1466, after a long and sanguinary contest, in which Frederick took no 
part, the territories of Culm, Michelau, and Dantzig, were obtained by 
Poland from the Teutonic knights (see § 56) . 

Frederick, notwithstanding his unfortunate efforts with 
respect to the empire, was more successful in the aggrandize- 
ment of his house. 
236 



§ 45.] FREDERICK III., CHARLES OF BURGUNDY. [14.67-77 A.D. 

Towards the end of the fourteenth century (1384), the 
duchy of Burgundy (Bourgogne), and the free 
country of Burgundy (Franche Comte), had become 
independent of the kingdom of Burgundy, or Aries, and 
united to the empire, the supremacy of which was acknow- 
ledged. By the middle of the fifteenth century, the posses- 
sions of the house of Burgundy had received vast accessions, 
either by intermarriages, purchase, or inheritance. By the 
marriage of Philip to the heiress of the Count of Flanders, 
nearly all the most flourishing provinces of the Netherlands 
were brought into the Burgundian family. 

The last duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold 
(1467 — 1477). In 1473, the duke, after considerable ma- 
noeuvring with the French monarch, whose supremacy he 
was tired of, hoped that by extending his duchy on the side 
of Germany, he might be able to induce the Emperor Frederick 
to acknowledge him as an independent sovereign, and thus 
place him in a condition to renounce his subjection to Louis, 
who took every opportunity to thwart and encroach upon his 
too powerful vassal. To obtain his object, Charles offered the 
hand of his daughter and heiress, Mary, who, if married to 
Maximilian, the son of Frederick, would convey over to the 
house of Austria the extensive territories of Burgundy. An 
interview was appointed between them at Treves, but Charles, 
by his ostentatious demands, defeated his own purpose. He 
required the coronation to be performed prior to the marriage 
of his daughter ; this the emperor refused until after the nup- 
tials had been celebrated, which not being agreed to, he 
abruptly departed, under the pretext of settling the dispute 
between Robert, archbishop of Cologne, and the chapter which 
had elected him. Charles warmly espoused the cause of the 
primate, while the emperor declared for the people, who had 
applied to him for succour. Charles was compelled, after 
his failure before the little town of Neuss (besieged for eleven 
months), to sue for peace, in order to chastise the Lorrainers 
and Swiss. At the head of 40,000 men, he subdued Lor- 
raine, but proved no match for the mountaineers of Helvetia 
(Switzerland). Charles resolved, for the mere sake of glory, 
like the Carthaginian general, to surmount the Alps. The 
Swiss met him on the plains at G r a n s o n, and at Morat, 
near the Lake, and both times defeated him with great 
slaughter; at Granson, the Swiss fell in with the abandoned 
237 



A.D. 1477-82.] CHARLES OF BURGUNDY. [§ 45. 

camp of the enemy, containing valuables which far outshone 
the ancient camp of Xerxes, including two fine diamonds, one 
of which at the present day adorns the tiara of the pope, 
the other the Austrian crown. On the return of Charles 
from Granson, his jester observed, " Ha 1 my Lord, are 
we not finely Hannibalised ? " After a third battle, at 
Nancy, lost through treachery and intrigue, the duke 
was found, naked and dead, half immersed in a frozen 
pool, to the great joy of his enemy, the French monarch, 
Louis xi., who now sought the hand of the heiress of Bur- 
gundy for his son, the dauphin, only eight years of age. 
Louis seized Burgundy and Artois by force (as lapsed fiefs) ; 
Boulogne, Arras, and Tournay surrendered to him. Ghent, 
at which town the heiress resided with her step-mother 
the duchess, held out against Louis, to whom Mary wrote 
clandestinely, intimating that she had no objection to the mar- 
riage with the dauphin; this letter being shown to the people 
of Ghent, justly excited her hatred of the French, and after 
many intrigues she became the wife of Maximilian of Austria, 
the son of Frederick. War was the consequence. Burgundy 
revolted, headed by the treacherous Prince of Orange, long 
since in the French interests ; but Artois was bravely defended 
by the Flemings, who, under Maximilian, defeated the French 
at Guinegate, and completely crippled the king, who was com- 
pelled to a treaty, at Arras, 1482, by which the dauphin 
was to be united to the daughter of Maximilian (Margaret), 
and receive Artois and Burgundy (Franche Comte) as a 
dowry. The marriage, however, never took place, and the 
dauphin (when Charles vhi.) resigned the provinces. On the 
subjection of the Tyrol by Maximilian, the remnant of the 
Hapsburgian possessions in Switzerland were sold to that prince 
by the wretched Duke Sigismund, who was universally hated 
by his subjects for his cruel and rapacious conduct. The 
Austrian possessions were therefore, on the demise of Frederick, 
concentrated under one head. 



238 



§ 46.] ITALIAN STATES. [1256-1479 A.D. 

§46. 
THE ITALIAN STATES. 

A. Upper Italy. 

1. Venice, during the period of the crusades, had been 
raised to the rank of a first-rate commercial and maritime 
power, and possessed most of the islands and maritime cities 
on the coasts of the Byzantine empire, which were freely 
distributed among the nobility, who ruled over them under the 
titles of dukes or counts. To this power the rupublic of 
Genoa was opposed, and a rivalry between them for the 
commerce of the East, embroiled the two powers in a war, 
which lasted for upwards of 125 years (1256 — 1381), when 
Venice, after the battle of Chiozza, compelled the Genoese to 
surrender their fleet (1280), and in 1381, concluded a peace, 
which left things in much the same state as before the com- 
mencement of the war. Venice was, about the middle of the 
fifteenth century, at the zenith of its power. The whole of the 
Indian trade, by the way of Egypt, was secured to it by a 
treaty with the Sultan of" Egypt, who opened to them the port 
of Alexandria, while, partly by conquest and partly by .treaty, 
its possessions in Upper Italy extended over the whole eastern 
portion of Lombardy, as far as Bergamo and Brescia, and in 
Dalmatia, nearly the whole of the sea coast. In 1387, it had 
acquired the island of Corfu, and in 1489, that of Cyprus. The 
advance of the Osman Turks into Europe, however, gradually 
deprived them of their possessions in the East. In 1460, 
Mahomet n. seized the duchy of Athens, and in 1479, the 
Venetians were glad to conclude a peace with the sultan, who 
had cut off their commerce with the East, by resigning all their 
possessions in Illyria and the Morea. 

When Venice had succeeded in establishing itself as a republic, it was 
at first governed by an elective Doge, or duke, whose power was 
vested in the assemblies of the people. In 1032, these assemblies were 
superseded by a council, chosen from among the most illustrious citizens, 
and termed Pregadi (invited), but in 1172, the sovereign authority 
was vested in the hands of the Grand Council, composed of 480 
members. To them belonged the filling up of all the offices of state. 
To concentrate the government, the grand council appointed from among 
themselves, six councillors of the red robe, who, with the doge, formed 
the Signoria, and without them the doge could not perform any 
public act. In 1297, a great change was effected ; the grand council was 
239 



A.D. 1355-95.] ITALIAN STATES — MILAN, [§ 46. 

no longer to be elected by the people, but as they had always consisted 
of the same persons or families, the election was to be abolished, and 
their fitness for office was to be determined by the forty criminal judges 
of the republic, who refused the re-election of any of the members against 
whom any charges of delinquency could be proved. Thus, an hereditary 
aristocracy was formed, whose government was equitable and impartial. 
In 1311, the creation of the Council of Ten (sixteen?) took place, 
who wore black robes, in contrast to the red of the Signoria. Their 
office was supplied from the members of the great council, who changed 
every ftmr months. A register, called The Grolclen Book, was 
kept of the names of ah the members who had sat in the council, 
the number of which, at length (1319), became unlimited ; the male 
descendant of any counsellor, of the age of twenty-five years, being 
entitled to a seat in the senate. Among the most remarkable conspiracies 
for the overthrow of the nobles, was that which was led by the newly 
elected doge, Marino Ealiero (1355), who planned their assassination ; 
it was betrayed to the council of ten by some of the conspirators, and 
the doge expiated his crime with his life. In consequence of this 
discovery, the council, under the pretext of exercising more watchful- 
ness over the affairs of the republic, assumed an arbitrary course of 
conduct, and instituted the odious office of State Inquisitors (1454), in 
whom was vested unlimited powers, and who conducted their proceed- 
ings in secrecy ; their mode of government, like their barbarous and cruel 
deeds, was shrouded in a mysterious darkness. 

2. Milan. In 1302, the Guelphs forced the Ghibeline 
Viscontis to fly from Milan, and installed the Delia Torres in 
their place. Henry invited them to return, and soon after 
they were restored to the sovereign power again, and the 
Guelphs, in their turn, were driven from the duchy. Henry, 
however, determined to extirpate the Ghibelines, upon whom 
he at last inflicted a severe blow ; he dispatched his nephew, 
the papal legate, Bertrand, from Provence into Lombardy, 
with a large army, there to oppose Matteo Visconti, the 
reigning duke, who, however, triumphed over all the power 
brought against him for upwards of twenty years ; at length 
superstitious fears possessed him, and fearing the excommuni- 
cation of the papal legate, he resigned his duchy to his son, 
Galeazzo, and soon after died (1322). After the death of 
Matteo, and of Henry, the Guelphs were again successful, and 
Galeazzo was compelled to flee. In 1328, the duchy reverted 
again to the house of the Viscontis, by purchase from Louis of 
Bavaria, the emperor, and in 1353, the republic of Genoa sub- 
mitted itself to them. In 1366, however, they freed themselves 
from their dominion. The Viscontis , however, still triumphed 
over the cities of Lombardy, of which they possessed the most 
considerable. In 1395, for 100,000 florins, a diploma from 
240 



§ 46.] ITALIAN STATES. [1257 A.D. 

the Emperor Wenceslas, installed Gian Galeazzo, the son of 
Galeazzo, duke of Milan, and count of Pavia, into the pos- 
sessions which embraced also twenty-six cities, with their 
territories, as far as the Lagunes of Venice. On the death 
of the last male of the house of Visconti (1447), the Con- 
dottiere, Francesco Sforza, after acting as the captain- 
general of the Milanese, assumed the title and took possession 
of the dukedom, by the surrender of the city of Milan (1449). 
This great man soon after subdued the republic of Genoa, and 
made his possessions hereditary in his family. 

3. Genoa, after the expulsion of the counts by whom the 
cities were governed, was raised into a republic, and ruled 
at first by a foreign P o d e s t a, and subsequently by a 
Captain-general, subject to a Captain of the 
People (1257). Like Venice, Genoa owed her rise to the 
commercial transactions entered into during the crusades. 
The succour afforded to the Greeks, as well as to the cru- 
saders, procured them great commercial advantages, and the 
possession of many valuable sea ports, and islands in the 
Morea, and the Archipelago, as well as Caff a, on the Black 
Sea, Smyrna, in Asia Minor, and the Constantinopolitan 
suburbs, Per a, and Gal at a. Genoa, however, had a 
formidable rival in Pisa, which was also a flourishing 
commercial republic, and contended with her for the supre- 
macy of the Middle or Mediterranean Sea, and the possession 
of the islands Corsica and Sardinia. After a sanguinary 
war of two hundred years, Genoa effected the ruin of the 
Pisan republic, and the conquest of Elba (1290), Sardinia 
(1299), and Corsica (1326). Genoa, however, itself was 
doomed to fall. A protracted war with the Venetians and 
Milanese, combined with internal factions, so weakened her 
government, that the Genoese republic at length became a 
part of the duchy of Milan (1458). It subsequently (1396) 
became for a while subject to France, and in 1499 was again 
in the hands of the French, until 1522. 

B. Central Italy. 

1. Florence had early risen to be the chief city of the 
Tuscan League, and in 1250, freed itself from the Ghibeline 
nobles, and was ruled by the captains of the fifty groups, 
or sections, into which the government had been divided, who 
composed their council, at the head of which was a podesta. 
This magistrate afterwards, with another, termed captain, gave 
241 m 



A.D. 1343-1469.] ITALIAN STATES FLORENCE. [§ 46. 

way to the signoria, a supreme magistracy, under which 
they acted. In 1254, the two cities of Pistoia and Volterra 
were captured, and the fortress of Pietra Santa erected. 
Towards the close of the thirteenth century, the trade 
corporations, called arti, were constituted (major and 
minor arti) (higher and lower guilds); the members of 
the major arti were admitted to a share in the government. 
At first, the number admitted was confined to three, but 
it was afterwards increased to six. Those who composed 
the populo g rosso, or commonalty, did not belong to 
any guild. The members of the major arti were chiefly 
merchants, dealers in gold, and other precious metals (bankers), 
stuffs, silks, &c, the produce of the East. At length they 
became the governors of the state, until, in 1342, they were 
compelled by the people to delegate their authority to the 
son of the Duke of Athens, whom they named Captain of 
Justice, and entrusted with the command of their army. He 
soon, by intrigue, was proclaimed Lord of Florence for life, but 
the Florentines were speedily disgusted by his proceedings, 
and conspired against him, when he fled to Naples, with 
upwards of 400,000 golden florins (1343). The republic 
was again established, and, with the rest of Italy, was con- 
stantly engaged in resisting the ambitious projects of the 
Viscontis. About the middle of the fifteenth century, the 
family of the Medici began to obtain the ascendancy in Flo- 
rence. They had always (from 1378) maintained friendship 
with the minor arti, and, from their immense wealth, became 
objects of envy to the princes and nobles. In 1416, Cosmo 
de Medici, who had counting-houses in all the chief cities 
of Europe, and oriental marts, was elected one of the priori, 
and endeavoured to obtain for the middle class the privilege 
of entering the magistracy, and also of taking a part in the 
government. This effort drew upon him the vengeance of 
his rivals, who procured his banishment. In the following 
year (1434), Cosmo, with his friends, was recalled, and his 
enemies, driven from Florence, took refuge in Milan. Cosmo, 
in possession of the government, made Florence the seat of the 
arts and sciences ; artists, poets, and learned men, resorted to 
his palace, the most sumptuous in the republic, and partook 
of his generosity and opulence, while his purse was open to 
almost every citizen who sought his aid. Nor was his pa- 
tronage of the arts confined to Florence, but extended through- 
242 



§ 46.] ITALIAN STATES. [1305-1468 A.D. 

out the Tuscan territory, Umbria, and Venice, and even to 
the holy city of Jerusalem. Cosmo, after governing Florence 
for thirty years, died greatly lamented, and was honoured in 
the following year by having inscribed on his tomb the title 
of Father of his Country. Pietro (Peter) his son, succeeded, 
and having crippled the commerce of Florence by withdrawing 
the loans of his father from the merchants, and others, with 
whom he was in partnership, made many enemies. Unable, 
from hereditary gout, which disabled him from walking or 
riding, he committed the government to six of his friends, 
who enriched themselves at the expense of the republic. In 
1469, he died, and was followed by the celebrated Lorenzo 
de Medici, against whom the- great conspiracy of the Pazzi, 
under papal influence, was directed. On its failure, Lorenzo 
assumed the title of Prince, and ruled with absolute power 
over the citizens. In 1492, he breathed his last, in his 
forty-fourth year, after a reign marked by serious calamities 
and reverses. Like Cosmo, his grandfather, he was a passion- 
ate lover of the fine arts, and helped to raise Florence to the 
rank of a second Athens. 

2. States of the Church, or Patrimony of St. Peter. 
These consisted of several great and small principalities, 
duchies, etc., which, although nominally subject to the pope, 
were more frequently not only in a state of alienation from, but 
of open hostility to, the papal see. The more important were 
the duchy of Rome, and the ancient republic of Bologna, the 
principalities of Benevento, Ravenna, Rimini, Urbino, and 
Camerino. During the residence of the popes at Avignon 
(the captivity), a period of seventy years (1305 — 1376), 
several cities and towns, under the control of their tyrants or 
governors, threw off the papal yoke, and Rome itself was 
shaken to its very foundation by the repeated insurrections 
which occurred within its walls, especially during the tribunate 
of Cola, Rienzi, and the deadly feuds which raged between the 
families of the Colonna (Ghibelines), and Orsini (Guelphs). 
Nor was it until the end of this period, that the reunion of the 
ecclesiastical states was effected, and the legitimate pope took 
up his residence at Rome. Avignon was purchased (1348), 
and added to the papal see, which was still further enriched 
by the territories of the Venascin, left to the pope by Philip in. 
of France. 

213 m 2 



A.D. 1270-1301.] FRANCE PHILIP HI., PHILIP THE FAIR. [§ 47. 

C. In Lower Italy. 

In Naples, the scene of sanguinary wars between the 
houses of Anjou and Arragon, the former held possession 
until 1442, when Alfonso v., king of Sicily, subdued the King 
of Naples, and received the investiture of the kingdom from 
Pope Eugenius iv. ; thus, the two kingdoms, which had been 
long separated, were once more united. On the death of 
Alfonso (1468), however, they were again separated. Naples 
he left to his brother John, now king of Arragon, and 
Sicily to his natural son, Ferdinand, by Margaret de 
Hijar, whose issue occupied the throne until 1504. 

§47. 
FRANCE. 

A. Under the last of the Capetian Kings 
(Capets), 1270—1328. 

Philip in., or the Hardy (1270—1285), continued the 
war against the Arabs of Tunis, after the death of his father 
(Louis). At length, however, hostilities were terminated by a 
treaty effected by Charles of Anjou, on whom the command of 
the French army had devolved. After the expulsion of the 
French from Sicily, at the Sicilian Vespers, Philip 
espoused the cause of his uncle, Charles, and entered Spain 
with a numerous army, to crush the power of Arragon, whose 
king had now taken the Angevine kingdom of Sicily. Charles, 
king of Naples and Anjou, who had arrived at Naples from 
Africa, endeavoured to reach Sicily with his fleet, to drive out 
the Spaniards, but a terrible storm dispersed his ships, and 
rendered it impossible. Philip, with his army, intended to 
have taken forcible possession of Arragon, as a reprisal for the 
loss of Sicily, he however proceeded no farther than Gerona, 
which he took, and died of a fever at Perpignan, in 1285. 

Peter in. of Arragon having taken possession of Sicily, the pope pre- 
sented Philip in. with Peter's kingdom of Arragon, and the county of 
Barcelona for his second son, Charles ; but on the French king attempt- 
ing to take possession, he met with his death (as above). 

Philip the Fair (le Bel, 1285— 1311), in his father's 
lifetime, had married Joanna, the queen of Navarre, and was 
therefore king of that country in right of his wife. On his 
succession to the French crown, he still carried on the war 
against the Arragonese, which was not terminated until 1295, 
when Sicily was nominally restored to the house of Anjou. 
244 



§ 47.] FRANCE PHILIP THE FAIR. [1300-1 A.D. 

Philip, wlio resembled his ancestor in character, cheated the 
more powerful by artifice and falsehood, and by craft and 
violence overwhelmed inferiors. Jealous of the English mon- 
arch, Edward I., he intrigued with the subjects of the latter in 
Guienne, the duchy of which he was determined to wrest out 
of his hands. Philip, feigning a series of insults from the 
people of Guienne, and demanding satisfaction for an attack 
upon the French ships, by some sailors of England, sum- 
moned Edward to appear before the parliament of Paris, to 
answer for them. The latter sent his brother Edmund to 
Paris, to satisfy the crafty Philip, who demanded that one or 
two of his officers should be admitted, with nominal authority, 
into the duchy; which, with other stipulations being agreed 
to, the officers of Philip possessed themselves of the chief 
towns of the duchy, and eventually became masters of the 
whole of Guienne. Edward, engaged at home with Baliol and 
Bruce, could afford no real assistance to his French subjects, 
but succeeded in engaging the Flemings in a war against 
Philip, who, at first, was victorious, and obtained, for a while, 
the duchy of Flanders ; but in consequence of the rapacity of 
his lieutenants, it was soon lost, and on the rebellion of Bor- 
deaux, Guienne was restored to the English. Philip, mean- 
while, quarrelled with the pope, the haughty Cajetan, Boniface 
vhi. Philip taxed the ecclesiastical revenues one-tenth, and 
the pope threatened excommunication against any that should 
pay the tax. Philip, although excommunicated, continued his 
proceedings; and after imprisoning the papal legate, entered 
Italy with an army, and seized the pope, who soon after died 
from the effects of the indignities heaped upon him. Benedict 
ix. (archbishop of Bordeaux) was elected as the successor of 
Boniface, and agreeably to the wishes of Philip, resided at 
Avignon. He commenced by taking proceedings against 
those who had attacked Boniface at Anagni, but was soon 
poisoned. Through the intrigues of Philip, Bertrand de Goth 
(archbishop of Bordeaux) was, after the lapse of some months, 
elected, and became the creature of the French monarch, even 
condemning the memory of Boniface, and exculpating his 
accusers. To be near his patron, the pontifical court was 
fixed first at Poictiers, then at Avignon, which continued to be 
the papal residence from 1305 to 1376.* 

* For the persecution of the Templars, and the dissolution of their 
order, see page 164. 
245 



A.D. 1313 28.] FRANCE HOUSE OF VALOIS. [§ 47. 

The events of Philip's reign were a series of acts of injustice : he was 
named the Faux Monnoyeur, or falsifier of coin. He was continually 
altering the standard, and not unfrequently ordered the coin and plate 
of his subjects to be brought to his mint, when he paid for it in coin of 
an inferior value. This created an insurrection, which the officers of 
Philip, however, soon put down. During his reign, the parliament was 
fixed at Paris, and personal service, or serfdom, was abolished by a 
decree. He was also, probably, the founder of the Stats generaux^ or 
States-general ; and favoured the burgesses of towns ; while he also 
frequently summoned the deputies of the towns, whom he enrolled as a 
separate order, and thus established a third estate (Tiers Etat). 

Philip left three sons, eacli of whom reigned in succession. 
Adultery and murders marked the two years' reign of Louis 
Hu t i n x . (1314—1316). Philip v. followed, but for a while 
only, as regent for the infant son of Louis Hutin (born after 
his death). The infant John i. soon died, and Philip was 
crowned king, to the exclusion of the daughter of Louis x., 
whose rights were unjustly passed over. Philip died, 1322. 

The first instance of the crown descending, to the exclusion of females, 
took place during the reign of Philip v., who, with the aid of the great 
Duke of Burgundy, seized the French crown, to the injury of the 
daughter of Louis ; and that this Salic law or custom might be con- 
firmed, Philip caused it to be sanctioned by the States-general. This, 
at his death, operated against the succession of his own daughters (he 
had no male issue) : hence the Count of Yalois, third son of Philip the 
Pair, succeeded to the throne. 

Charles iv., the next male claimant to the crown, took 
the place of Philip v., but only reigned six years, and died 
without leaving any offspring. The male line of the Capetians 
was therefore extinct, and Philip, the count of Valois, ascended 
to the throne of France. 

On the accession of the Count of Valois, the little kingdom of Navarre 
passed over to Joanna, the daughter of Louis x., probably the more 
easily to prevent her laying any claims to that of France ; and Navarre 
was detached from that kingdom until re-united to France, under the 
Bourbons, in 1589. 

B. Under Kings of the House of Valois, 1328 
—1589. 

Philip of Valois vi., 1328—1350. 

This period of history is marked by the rivalry that sprung up be- 
tween France and England, and became national. It was no longer 
carried on by men speaking the same language, and actuated merely by 
provincial interests, but a strife of bitterness and inveteracy seems to 
have been felt by the warriors of both countries, in the midst of which, 
however, many generous deeds of chivalry were exhibited, and out of 
which arose future advantages to both nations. Edward in. disputed 
246 



§ 47.] FRANCE WARS WITH THE ENGLISH. [1328-46 A.D. 

with Philip the Trench crown. He was the son of Isabella, the daugh- 
ter of Philip the Fair, and was hence, as his grandson, considered by 
many of the legal doctors of France, to have a just and valid claim to 
the sovereignty. The Count of Ervreux, who had married the daughter 
of Louis Hutin, also made out a claim : the kingdom of Navarre, as an 
apanage, however, pacified him. 

Louis is. 



r \ 

Philip in. Robert, 

count of Clermont ; 
founder of the Bourbons. 



( 7^ 

Philip rv. ; Charles of Valois. 

king of France, 1285 ; j| 

of Navarre, 1275. Philip VI. 



Louis x. Philip y. Charles iv. Isabella ; 

married 
Joanna. Louis, f 1317. Edward II. of England, 

II II 

Charles the Bad. Edward in. 

Notwithstanding the valid claims of Edward to the crown 
of France, he was unwilling to enforce them by an appeal to 
arms. Philip, however, a little elevated by his success against 
the Flemings, whose army he had routed and dispersed at 
Cassel, summoned Edward, as his vassal, to pay homage for 
Guienne. This order the English monarch obeyed, and but 
for the persuasions of Count Eobert of Artois, would not have 
engaged in the war which followed between the French 
and English, and which extended over a period of 
upwards of 100 years. Eobert, who had forged certain 
documents to establish his claim to the county of Artois, 
on being banished, took refuge in England ; and Philip, 
in revenge, supported the Scotch in their wars against Ed- 
ward, who now assumed the title of King of France, and 
formed an alliance with the Flemish citizens, especially with 
Artaveldt, the brewer of Gaunt, or Ghent. The only 
engagement which took place in this war, was off the coast of 
Sluys, where Edward, with his few ships, found the French 
fleet close to the shore. He hooked vessel to vessel, and thus 
made one level platform, upon which he not only attacked 
and defeated the French, but also totally destroyed their fleet 
(1340). In 1345, the war again broke out, but was confined 
to Brittany, under the Earl of Derby. In 1346, Edward, with 
the Prince of Wales, and the flower of his nobility, resolved to 
217 



A.D. 1346-64.] FEANCE WARS WITH THE ENGLISH. [§ 47. 

strike, if possible, a final blow ; and after leaving the coast of 
Flanders, lie landed at La Hogue, took Caen, and marched on 
to Paris, burning all the towns in the vicinity of the capital. 
He now retreated northwards, forcing the passage of the 
Somme, until, on the following day, he pitched his camp at 
Crecy, waiting the arrival of Philip from Abbeville. The 
French, despite their immense numbers, were defeated. 
Eleven princes fell, together with 100 nobles having banners, 
1,200 chevaliers, and 30,000 soldiers. The loss of the Eng- 
lish was 2,588. Philip took to flight, and the victorious 
Edward next laid siege to Calais : it fell ; its distress had been 
great; but the devotedness of its six burgesses, who delivered 
themselves up to the mercy of Edward, was only equalled by 
the sympathies of the queen, whose tears and entreaties alone 
saved them from the anger of Edward, who remained inex- 
orable. Edward removed the inhabitants, and endeavoured 
to colonize the city with his English subjects. The scheme, 
however, failed, and it became a sort of asylum for outcasts. 
Among the first to return was St. Pierre, one of the six bur- 
gesses, whom Edward had been led to pardon. Calais re- 
mained in the hands of the English for upwards of two hundred 
years, and became the favourite continental possession of the 
crown to England. A truce was now concluded, and Edward 
returned to England. France now became the scene of a pes- 
tilence termed the Black Plague, which carried off one-third of 
its population, and ravaged the whole of Europe. In 1349, 
the Dauphine came into possession of the king by purchase 
from the extravagant and dissolute Count of Vermandois. 
Champagne and Brie were surrendered for Angouleme and 
Mortagnes, by the King of Navarre. These provinces, how- 
ever, had the right of taxation secured to them. Philip died, 
1350, and was succeeded by his son. 

John the Good, 1350—1364. 

On his accession, John endeavoured to convert the truce 
between France and England into a settled peace, but was not 
successful. His early efforts, like those of his father, were 
directed to the adulteration of the coin, and a pernicious levy- 
ing of taxes on every sale that took place. In 1355, the 
States-general appointed receivers, and directed the collection 
of it from the nobles and the prelates, as well as from the 
burgesses, and agreed that they should meet again in the fol- 
lowing year, to make fresh taxes. This threw the kingdom 
248 



§ 47.] FRANCE BATTLE OF POICTIERS. [1356 A.D. 

into a ferment, which the turbulent King of Navarre, and 
many of the nobility, used every effort to increase. A short 
period after, the King of Navarre and Count of Harcourt were 
seized while at dinner with the king's son, and murdered, by 
order of the king. This proceeding excited the people, and 
caused many of the nobles to renounce their allegiance. At 
this juncture, Edward of England arrived, expecting to be 
joined by the discontented barons and sovereign of Navarre, 
with whom he had, sometime before, allied: he was, however, 
joined by their followers. After ravaging Auvergne, Limousin, 
Edward entered Berri, but having only 6,000 archers and. 
infantry, and 2,000 men-at-arms, he thought it prudent to 
retreat before the larger army of John, which was 60,000 
strong, and was endeavouring to blockade his retreat. The 
line of battle was drawn up at Maupertuis, near Poictiers ; 
and after another vain attempt at reconciliation by the papal 
legates, the action commenced, and Edward was again vic- 
torious. John, and his younger son, Philip, were amongst 
the prisoners, who were taken to London, and kindly treated 
by the conqueror. The government of France was now 
carried on by Charles, the dauphin, who had escaped, and 
a truce for two years was entered into. The loss of the 
French was 11,000; that of the English, 2,400; and the 
prisoners taken, twice the number of themselves, besides 
vast spoils in gold and silver plate, jewels, furred mantles, 
&c. (1356). The first act of Charles was to summons 
the States-general, those of the south (Langue d' Oc) meeting 
at Toulouse, and those of the north (Langue d' Oil) at Paris ; 
the latter imposing conditions upon Charles, by which his 
authority was limited, the former granting him levies of men 
and money. The dauphin, however, dissolved the states, and 
resorted to the oft-repeated experiment of debasing the coin. 
An insurrection followed, which was headed by the favourite 
deputies, Marcel and Le Cocq, who placed on the head of the 
dauphin a Chaperon, or cap, then, as now, the symbol of 
revolution. The King of Navarre was released, and headed 
the disaffected; but the dauphin prevailed, when the former 
was banished the capital, and Marcel was slain in a tumult. 
The mutual hatred between the nobles and the peasants, 
however, did not end here; the latter, since the defeats of 
Poictiers and Crecy, looked upon the discomfited knights 
and barons with contempt, and felt their own position, in 
249 m 3 



A.D. 1356 66."] FRANCE — JOHN, CHARLES V. [§ 47. 

not being allowed to wield a sword, to be degrading. This 
discontent, too, was much augmented by the necessary in- 
crease of taxes upon the tenantry for the redemption of 
their masters : hence the rebellion of the Jaquerie or 
Villains (Peasants or Labourers), which had for its 
object the destruction of all the nobility and gentry of the 
kingdom. Happily such a diabolical movement was soon 
crushed, their last resort, Meaux, was reduced to ashes, with 
all the villains that were shut up in it. In the midst of these 
calamities, Edward hi., whose overtures had been rejected by 
France, prepared for an invasion. He entered Champagne 
(1358), and besieged Eheims ; rising from this city, he 
marched to Paris, and challenged the dauphin, who was too 
cautious, and evaded an engagement, and proceeded to destroy 
the towns and villages in the vicinity: hence, Edward was 
compelled, by want of provisions, to depart. In 1360, a 
peace was signed at Bretigny, when Edward gave up his 
pretensions to the crown of France, as well as to Normandy. 
All Aquitaine, and the provinces south-west of the Loire, 
and the sea coast from Calais to the Somme, were ceded 
to England, in full sovereignty. Three millions of crowns 
were to be given as the ransom of the French king, who was 
to reside at Calais until the payment of the first instalment. 
John was liberated, 1361, and reigned three years after, when 
he returned to London, to negotiate with Edward respecting 
the escape of one of his hostages from Calais, Louis of Anjou. 
He died at the Savoy palace, in London, 1364. In 1363, the 
duchy of Burgundy, having become extinct, reverted to the 
crown. John presented it as an apanage to his son Philip 
(duke of Touraine), who, subsequently, marrying the heiress 
of the Count of Flanders, obtained those extensive territories 
also. 

Charles v., the Sage (1364—1380), had long reigned 
as dauphin, and acquired much experience. He first directed 
his efforts against the treacherous and intriguing King of Na- 
varre, who laid claim to the duchy of Burgundy ; but the general 
of Charles, Bertrand du Guesclin, a young knight who had sig- 
nalized himself in the wars of Brittany, defeated and took de 
Grailli prisoner at Cocherel, when the King of Navarre, for the 
present, gave up the contest. The succession to Brittany was, 
however, still undecided; du Guesclin and Charles of Blois 
were sent into Brittany, to enforce the claims of Charles v., 
250 



§ 47.] FRANCE WARS WITH THE ENGLISH. [1366-75 A.D. 

where they were opposed by Sir John Chandos and John de 
Montfort. Guesclin was defeated, and taken prisoner, and 
Philip was slain: 5,000 of the vanquished perished on the 
field. De Montfort, the ally of Edward, was now recognised 
as duke, and the wars of Brittany were closed, after having 
lasted upwards of twenty-five years. In 1366, Guesclin was 
ransomed from Sir John Chandos, to head an expedition 
against Navarre, accompanied by bands of mercenary soldiers, 
who, left without employment or pay, ravaged the country in 
every direction. The pope endeavoured to preserve his do- 
mains by granting them absolution, which they readily 
accepted, but immediately began to contract fresh guilt, by 
not sparing even the papal domains. Guesclin, with his mer- 
cenaries, drove the intruder, Peter, from Castile ; but on 
Edward espousing the cause of Peter, who had fled to Bor- 
deaux, to seek his assistance, the fortunes of the latter changed. 
Du Guesclin was defeated by Edward at Nojera, with great 
slaughter, and taken prisoner, and Peter was placed upon the 
throne of Leon and Castile. Edward, however, returned sick 
to Bordeaux, and being in want of funds to defray the ex- 
pense of his expeditions, he levied a tax upon his subjects, 
which led to resistance, and an appeal from ,the Aquitanians 
to Charles, who summoned his vassal to appear and answer 
the charges. The reply was characteristic of the hero — to 
obey " at the head of 60,000 men." War was declared on 
both sides. The Black Prince, enfeebled by dropsy, was car- 
ried on a litter to Limoges, which had been treacherously- 
given up to the Duke of Berri. Edward invested the city, and 
Guesclin did all he could to relieve it, but in vain : it fell, and 
Edward had all the inhabitants put to the sword. The trai- 
torous bishop who had given up the city to the duke was par- 
doned. The malady of Edward increasing, he was compelled 
to return to England, and died at Canterbury, 1370. On the 
return of Edward to England, Guesclin had been appointed 
constable of France, and now took the command against the 
English under Lancaster, changing entirely the former mode 
of warfare. Guesclin's orders were rigorously obeyed ; no 
fighting took place in the open plains, and the troops main- 
tained themselves in walled towns : hence the strength of the 
English was completely wasted ; the French were nowhere to 
be found, and famine destroyed more of the English men-at- 
arms than French discipline and valour. Poictiers revolted, 
231 



A.D. 1375 — 90.] FRANCE — CHARLES VI. [§ 47. 

and Eoclielle followed its example : thus the fruits of Edward's 
victories were gone. The last engagement was before Chizai, 
when the little English army was well nigh butchered by 
Guesclin, who hated them. A truce for one year was con- 
cluded at Bruges, and subsequently extended, with a view to 
the establishment of a final peace, to which the possession of 
Calais became the grand obstacle (1375). Charles once more 
endeavoured to add Brittany to the French crown, but even 
Guesclin opposed this attempt to destroy the independence of 
the nobility, and on his loyalty being called in question, re- 
signed his office of constable. Soon after, this consummate 
warrior died while rescuing a castle in Languedoc (Chateau- 
neuf de Randau). The Duke of Brittany, after a few skir- 
mishes, regained his dukedom. Charles died at Beaute Castle, 
1380, having survived his rival, Edward in., only three years. 

Charles vi. (1380 — 1422) succeeded his father at the 
age of twelve years, and being a minor, his tutelage was con- 
tended for by his four uncles, — the dukes of Anjou, Berri, 
Burgundy, and Bourbon. The Duke of Anjou pillaged the 
royal treasures, and left the coffers empty. The regent (Duke 
of Anjou) having declared the monarch fit to assume the 
crown, a council was appointed, and the coronation of the 
youthful monarch took place. His first feat in arms was 
before Rosebecque, near Upres, where the Flemings and 
Ghentois, under the son of Artaveldt, the brewer, were de- 
feated, with a dreadful slaughter, and the cause of the com- 
mons against the aristocracy weakened. Full enjoyment of 
privileges were, however, ensured to the vanquished citizens. 

The battle of Rosebecque proved most unfortunate for the 
communes of France, who were everywhere resisting the op- 
pressive power of the aristocracy, now ruling with absolute 
sway, in the name of the young king, who in vain endeavoured 
to release himself from the tutelage of his uncles. The citi- 
zens of Paris were sent by hundreds to the scaffold, as a terror 
to all the other cities and towns, where similar executions took 
place on resisting the royal ordinances. In 1382, the king 
emancipated himself from his uncles' control, and chose 
de Clisson as his constable, who was murderously attacked by 
de Craon. The king, on proceeding into Brittany, whither 
de Craon had fled, to revenge the injuries of his constable, was 
seized with insanity, when the government was again in the 
hands of the Duke of Burgundy. 
252 



§ 47.] BURGUNDIANS AND ORLEANISTS. [1390-1420 A.D. 

It was just at the close of the fourteenth century, that the 
breaking forth of the differences between the dukes of Bur- 
gundy and Orleans took place, who had disputed with each 
other about the regency. Civil wars raged throughout the 
kingdom, the good of the public was entirely neglected, and 
both uncle and nephew pillaged the treasury whenever an 
opportunity occurred, and then threw the blame upon his 
rival. Both had their armies in Paris, but on the absence of 
Burgundy to settle the affairs of his duchy, Orleans forged a 
public ordinance in his name, which, on the return of the 
duke, being protested against, the Parisians rose against him, 
and Burgundy possessed the city, which he kept until the 
murder of the Duke of Orleans by the hired assassins of Bur- 
gundy. By the marriage of the young Duke of Orleans with 
the daughter of Armagnac, a Gascon nobleman, the Orleans 
party revived, and the war became marked with inhuman 
ferocity on both sides. In the midst of these dissensions, the 
youthful Henry v. mounted the English throne, and prompted 
to emulate the heroic valour of the Black Prince, he raised an 
army, and embarked for France. Harfleur, after a short siege, 
fell into his hands, when he marched towards Calais, and met 
the French, by their own appointment, near the village of 
Agincourt : 10,000 of the French were slain, including a 
large number of the nobility (1415). Burgundy, by the cap- 
tivity of the Duke of Orleans, and the death of the constable, 
and other leaders of the Orleans faction, was at once in the 
ascendancy, and took possession of Paris with 10,000 horse. 
The Orleanists were inhumanly massacred by the Butchers and 
the Burgundian rabble, who even forced the prisons, and mur- 
dered the wretched victims singly, as they issued forth. 
Henry meanwhile pursued his triumphs, and possessed himself 
of Normandy. Rouen surrendered, 1419. Paris was next the 
object of his ambition. The onward march of the conqueror 
tended to bring about a union between the contending parties, 
and a meeting was appointed for the purpose. The Armag- 
nacs (Orleanists), however, resolved to make it the occasion of 
avenging the assassination of Orleans ; hence when the dauphin 
and Burgundy met on the bridge of Montereau, to arrange the 
prehminaries of a common peace, the more successfully to 
resist the English, the duke was struck down with a battle- 
axe, in the very presence of the dauphin, who did not deny 
his approval of the deed. Paris became enraged against the 
253 



A.D. 1420-37.] FRANCE CHARLES VII. [§ 47. 

dauphin, and the young Duke of Burgundy, yet in the posses- 
sion of the capital, hastened to lay the crown of France at the 
feet of the English monarch. The treaty of Troyes was soon 
after concluded, when Isabel, the queen, signed for the imbe- 
cile king, her husband. By this treaty, Henry was united to 
the king's sister Catharine, and to succeed to the throne of 
France, which, until the recovery or death of the king, he was 
to rule as regent. Burgundy, and the other nobles, did homage 
to Henry for their fiefs, and the Parisians, with the States- 
general, rejoiced at the conclusion which had been come to. 
The dauphin had recourse to arms, and the Duke of Clarence, 
who led the English, was killed, with 3,000 men-at-arms, at 
Bauge. Henry, who had withdrawn to London with his bride, 
hastened to Paris, to repair the disaster. Henry besieged 
Meux, which surrendered; and the commander was hanged. 
The dauphin, who had been joined by the Scottish nobility, 
having besieged Cone, Henry hastened to relieve it, but was 
seized with dysentery, and expired, in 1422, at Vincennes. 
The afflicted Charles vi. died two months afterwards, when 
France was, by the consent of the council of state, ruled over 
by the Duke of Bedford, as regent for the infant prince of 
Catharine and Henry. 

Charles vn. (1422-1461). — France was now divided 
between rival monarchs. Henry VI., the infant son of Henry 
V. of England (and France), was proclaimed at Paris, and the 
northern parts of the kingdom acknowledged the Duke of 
Bedford as regent. The counties south of the Loire were in 
favour of the dauphin, Charles vn., who resided at Bourges, 
and was supported by the Scots under the Earl of Buchan, 
who was created constable of France. At an engagement 
which took place at Vermenil, the French and Scots were de- 
feated, and the earls of Buchan and Douglas were slain. 
Charles now fell back upon Orleans, which was besieged by 
the English, when, just as the city was about to surrender, the 
celebrated Joan of Arc appeared, reviving the courage of the 
besieged. She affirmed that her mission was to deliver her 
country from the English, to raise the siege of Orleans, and 
bring the dauphin Charles to be crowned as king at Eheims. 
Superstition seemed to deprive the stout-hearted besiegers of 
their courage, and to elevate the besieged beyond measure. 
Joan soon sallied forth from the city walls against the English, 
and compelled them to raise the siege (1429). Soon after 
254 



§ 47.] FRANCE — LOUIS XI. [1449-61 A.D. 

Troyes surrendered-, and Eheims fell. Thus the maid ap- 
peared to have fulfilled her promise, and Charles vn. was 
crowned. Paris was next attacked, but proved too powerful. 
Joan was wounded, and with the French retreated to Com- 
peigne, where she fell into the hands of the English, by 
whom she was burned in the market place of Eouen (1431). 
The Duke of Burgundy now joined Charles, who soon ob- 
tained by treachery the city of Paris (1437). A truce was 
concluded at Arras, on the death of the regent Bedford, 
when the struggle between the two nations was confined to 
a few sieges, mostly to the disadvantage of the English, who 
were at that time too much occupied in the wars of the Roses. 
In 1449, on the expiration of the truce, Rouen was captured; 
and after the battle of Fourmigny, Normandy was for ever lost 
to the English. In the next year, Guienne was invaded ; but 
Talbot, now eighty years of age, was unable, with his 5,000 
men, to oppose the countless numbers of Charles, who attacked 
him near Bordeaux. The veteran and his son perished, and the 
province of Guienne, as well as Normandy, was totally lost. 
Calais was now the only remaining possession of the English 
in France. Charles reigned ten years after having completed 
the conquest of his kingdom, and was chiefly occupied with 
the turbulence of the dauphin, who was compelled to take 
flight into Burgundy. Charles closed his active reign in 1461, 
when he died at the village of Meung sur Yevre. 

The reforms of Charles were the principal ground of disaffection 
between him and the nobles, who were aided by the dauphin, his eldest 
son. Charles resolved to imitate the English, and trained the country 
population to arms, dispensing with the feudal method of raising armies, 
and estabhshing a standing army of his own, to be ready on any 
occasion. In addition, he formed companies of cavalry, and ordered 
that each village should supply an expert archer, who in time of war 
should receive pay, and in peace be exempt from tattle, or tax. These 
were named franc archers, or free sharp shooters, and were only called 
forth at the king's bidding. The cavalry were paid by a tax levied on 
the towns, which yielded a revenue independent of the States-general, 
which were therefore useless, and never summoned. The French nobles 
consented to this illegal impost, for the sake of pensions granted to them 
out of the sums levied in their several domains, and were the first to 
assert that the right of taxation belonged to the king, without the consent 
of the subject, a conclusion quite opposed to that spirit of constitu- 
tional freedom which had been so long developing itself in England. 

Louis xi. (1461 — 1483), on his accession, expressed 
his indignation against the counsellors of his father, whom he 
255 



A.D. 1461-91.] FRANCE LOUIS XI. [§ 47. 

banished from the court, choosing in lieu of them men of low 
birth, who displayed talent, and who could be attached to his 
person, and submissive. By perfidy, cunning, and fraud, he 
contrived to humble the power of the greater nobility, whom 
he had stripped of their offices, deprived of their pensions, and 
in many cases imprisoned ; hence a league was formed against 
him, termed (le bien public), the league of the public good, and 
a civil war broke out between the king and his nobility. The 
Burgundians, under Count Charlerois, were partially defeated, 
but Louis, hearing that the dukes of Brittany and Berri were 
also in arms, proposed a peace, by which Burgundy had the 
towns on the Somme restored, which Louis had paid for 
dearly. Normandy was given to the Duke of Berri, while the 
other princes obtained all that they demanded. Louis, as soon 
as the league was dissolved, however, commenced recovering 
all that he had yielded ; Normandy and Brittany were seized ; 
but the young Duke of Burgundy, who had succeeded his 
father, resisted. Louis, who hoped by persuasion to bend the 
inflexible duke, visited his head quarters at Peronne, where 
he was confined, until he had agreed to chastise the Liegeois, 
whom he had induced to overrun the territories of the duke ; 
after witnessing the destruction of his allies, Louis was allowed 
to depart. The Duke of Berri, in lieu of Normandy, finally 
received Guienne; soon after he leagued with the king, his 
brother, against Burgundy, whose daughter, after a series of 
infamous intrigues, he insisted upon marrying. His early 
death, however (by poison ?), prevented the continuance of 
civil war, and a treaty was negotiated, 1472. The Duke of 
Burgundy, to release himself from the vassalage of Louis, 
endeavoured to procure the election of his duchy into a 
kingdom, from the German emperor (see page 237). On the 
death of the duke, Louis seized Burgundy and Artois, as a 
lapsed fief, together with the towns on the Somme ; Boulogne, 
Arras, and Tournay. His efforts to secure the Burgundian 
territories in Flanders failed, and a war between the Duke 
of Austria and the French king was the result (see page 
238). Louis was signally defeated before Guinegate, the 
battle of which determined him to re-organize his army. The 
franc archers were abolished, and paid Swiss soldiers, armed 
with pikes, halberds, and two-handed swords, introduced into 
their place. The arquebuss superseded the bow and arrow. 
The treaty of Arras, after the death of Mary, the Burgundian 
256 



§ 47.] FKANCE — CHARLES VIII. [1401-5 A.D, 

heiress, terminated the conflict. Burgundy proper, and 
Picardy, were secured to Louis, as his share of the spoil, and 
in a short time after, on the death of Rene, he seized 
Provence and Anjou, which Rene n. endeavoured in vain to 
acquire. On the extinction of the house of Anjou (originating 
with John the Good), Louis also came into the possession of 
Provence, Anjou, and Maine, together with the claims of that 
house to the crown of Naples. Thus Louis had completed all 
his great schemes; the greater nobility had been humbled, 
Burgundy was virtually destroyed, and nearly all the great 
fiefs had been added to the royal domains ; Brittany, not yet 
added, was about to be annexed, by the marriage of Charles 
the dauphin with the heiress of that duchy (1491). Louis, 
anxious to prolong his existence, of which he dreaded the 
termination, drank blood drawn from the veins of infants ; but 
his efforts to evade the dart of the dreaded enemy were of no 
avail: he died at Plessis, 1483. 

Charles v 1 1 1. (1483 — 1498), was only thirteen years of 
age when he succeeded to the throne. Agreeably to the wishes 
of Louis, the assembly conferred upon Anne, the sister of the 
king, the custody of the young monarch, who had been denied 
by his father the privilege of education. The Orleans party 
remonstrated, but in vain. On an appeal to arms, he was 
driven by La Tremouille into Italy (Asti). He soon after 
escaped into Brittany, where he leagued with the duke (whose 
daughter he sought in marriage), and others, against the 
regent, Anne. The Bretons, although they had clothed 
themselves as Englishmen, to intimidate the French, were 
worsted at Nantes and Orleans, and the Prince of Orange was 
taken prisoner. The Duke of Brittany soon after died, and 
his daughter and heiress, Anne, was affianced to the King of 
the Romans, Maximilian. This was, however, set aside by 
the intrigues of the court, and the good offices of Orleans, who 
was released from prison, and ended in the marriage of the 
heiress with the young king, who now added Brittany to the 
crown. In 1494, the intriguing Ludovico Sforza, the enemy of 
the reigning sovereign of Naples, urged Charles to press his 
claims upon that kingdom, and promised to render him as- 
sistance ; accordingly, the latter entered Lombardy with a large 
army, but did not meet with the promised help from Sforza. 
Florence, however, under the Medici, gave up some fortresses, 
and Charles entered Lucca and Pisa, and subsequently, the 
257 



A.D. 1498.] FRANCE CHAKLES XI. [§ 47. 

city of Florence, when the traitor Medici was put to flight. 
Charles also captured the city of Rome ; and the pope took 
refuge in the castle of St. Angelo. On his arriving before 
Naples, Ferdinand, the king, escaped to Ischia, and Charles 
entered in triumph (1495).* He could not, however, retain 
his conquests. His friend, Sforza, fearing the domination of 
the French in Italy, leagued with Venice, and the King of 
Arragon, for their expulsion. Warned by his envoy at 
Venice, Charles hastened to return, and after garrisoning 
the chief towns, took his departure from Naples, leaving 
Gilbert de Bourbon as governor. After some defeats, and 
with much difficulty, and a treaty being concluded with 
Sforza, Charles reached France in safety. In 1498, the 
French, who had been left in possession of the newly ac- 
quired kingdom, were driven out, and Ferdinand was again 
restored. At the early age of twenty-seven, Charles died of 
apoplexy, and with him ended the elder branch of the house 
of Valois. 

During this period, the fourth of the middle ages, the 
French nobility were divided into the greater and the less, the greater 
possessing all but independent sovereignty, and hence scarcely be- 
longing to the aristocratic order. They held extensive territories and 
apanages, and within their respective domains exercised independent 
authority ; they opposed their liege lord, the king, as an equal, with 
armed forces, and, retreating to their fortified castles, defied the 
armies of the sovereign. In process of time, the greater nobility of 
France perished, either in war, or by treachery, from natural causes, 
or by the hand of the executioner ; hence their domahis were seized, 
or reverted to the crown, as lapsed fiefs. To the possessions of these 
extensive domains the princes of the blood succeeded ; hence a distinct 
order of princely or higher nobility arose, whose interests were not at all 
identical with the lower. The royal authority now became more settled, 
and the nobility no longer strove to confine it, but rather to extend it, 
and to share in its administration. This gave rise to jealous rivalry, but 
not to civil wars, as formerly. The officers of the state were paid in 
money ; offices and pensions took the place of provinces (as apa- 
nages), and the taxes imposed were shared in by the monarch and the 
greater nobility, while the lesser were exempted from contributing, 
thus, those of noble birth were attached to a despotic royalty, from 
motives of self interest, and opposed to the rise of democracy. 



558 



§ 48.] ENGLAND HOUSE OF PLANTAGENET. [1272-1307 A.D. 

§ 48. 
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 

A. Kings of the House of Plantagenet. 

5. Edward I. (1272—1307). 

During the earlier invasion of the Anglo-Saxons, the west coast of 
Britain, from the Land's End to the Clyde, was occupied by six 
different native principalities of the Cambro-Britis h 
race, known afterwards by the name ofWallenses, or Welsh- 
men. In or about the year 876, they were chiefly located in what is 
now called the principality of Wales, which was then divided into 
North and South Wales, and Powis, each division being governed by 
native prhices. In 933, the Welsh principalities became tributary to 
Athelstan, the conqueror of Edwall Yocl, the king of Engynnedd 
(South Wales). On the arrival of the Normans in the eleventh 
century, the southern portion of Wales was subdued, and Fitz-ham- 
mond, a relative of the Duke of Normandy, parcelled it out among 
his followers. At the commencement of the twelfth century, on the 
occasion of a terrible inundation of the Flemish coast, some hundreds 
of the inhabitants arrived in Britain, and intreated Henry I. to allow 
them settlements in the depopulated portions of it, when he assigned 
to them the province of Dyrfed (West Wales), since called Pem- 
brokeshire. North Wales, or the principality of Aberfraw, or 
S n o w d o n, was comparatively indejDendent, and had not been subju- 
gated up to the accession of Edward I, 

Edward, on his accession, made preparations for the 
subjugation of Wales, and demanded the recognition of his 
authority, as liege lord ; but nothing decisive took place, till 
1277, when he advanced into Snowdon, and fortified the 
castles of Khuddland and Flint. Soon after, he received the 
submission of Llewellyn, who resigned his principality into 
the hands of. Edward as a conquest. Angiesea, the retreat of 
the Welsh bards and the princes, was ransomed for 50,000Z. 
sterling. Llewellyn repented of the treaty, and rebelled, but 
was soon treacherously taken prisoner, and assassinated. In 
1283, Prince David, the brother of Llewellyn, was made 
prisoner, and after a mock trial at Shropsbury (Shrewsbury), 
was drawn and quartered. After the victory, Edward, whose 
queen had given birth to a prince at Caernarvon, gave him to 
the Welsh as a chief, born in their own country, and named 
him Edward of Caernarvon, and at a parliament 
assembled at Shropsbury, in 1307, conferred upon him the 
dignity of Prince of Wales, which title has ever since 
been borne by the eldest sons of the kings of England. On 
the conquest of Angiesea, the cruel Massacre of the 
259 



A.D. 1292-1313.] ENGLAND EDWARD L, II. [§ 48. 

Bards took place, and hundreds of the nobility and others 
went over to France. 

On the death of Alexander in. of Scotland, the crown had 
devolved upon his daughter, Margaret, who was affianced 
to Edward of Caernarvon (afterwards Prince of Y/ales), she 
died, however, in the fifth year of her reign, and the sixth 
of her age, when many competitors for the Scottish crown 
appeared, among whom were the Lord of Galloweida, John 
Baliol, and Robert Bruce, the lord of Annandale. This 
led to a civil and foreign war of twenty years' duration, in 
which the English bore a prominent part. Edward inter- 
fered, as uncle of the deceased Margaret, who had been 
espoused to the Prince of Wales, and as feudal sovereign 
of Scotland (to which, however, he had no clear title), and 
decided in favour of Baliol, who swore fealty to Edward, 
as liege lord, and was crowned at Scone (1292). The 
Scottish king, despised by his subjects for his submission, 
threw off his allegiance, and formed an alliance with France 
to resist the arms of Edward, who was, however, successful 
at Berwick and Dunbar, when Baliol was led from the 
castle in which the nobility had confined him, and brought 
before the English monarch, at the castle of Brechin, where 
he was deposed, and the Earl of Surrey appointed Guardian of 
Scotland. In 1297, the illustrious Wallace appeared, as 
the deliverer of his country, but was at length betrayed into 
the hands of Edward, by whom he was tried, at West Mynster, 
as a traitor to the King of England, and being found guilty, 
was drawn and quartered (1298). On his death, another 
patriotic hero, roused by the sense of national wrongs, 
appeared in the person of the Earl of Carrick (Robert 
the Bruce). He was crowned at Scone, 1306, but in 
consequence of ill success, was compelled to lurk as an outlaw 
in the Islands of the Hebrides, while Edward visited with the 
sternest cruelty his friends and associates. In 1307, Bruce 
returned to his dominions, and vanquished the English in 
several engagements. After the battle of Loudon Hill, 
where the Earl of Pembroke was defeated, Edward advanced 
towards the Scottish borders, but died at Burgh on the Sands, 
1307. 

6. Edward n. (1307 — 1327), an imbecile prince, suc- 
ceeded his ambitious father, and after having lost Galloway, 
and many fortresses, withdrew his troops from Scotland, to yield 
260 



§ 48.] ENGLAND EDWARD II. [1314-21 A.D. 

himself up to his pleasures and favourites, the chief of whom 
was Gaveston, appointed Warden of England during the 
absence of the king in France, where he married the beautiful 
daughter of Philip iv. (Isabella). At length, the insolence of 
Gaveston, who had been raised to the dignity of Earl of 
Cornwall, and married to the king's niece, led to the formation 
of a league against him, composed of the greater barons, who, 
when assembled in Parliament, demanded a reformation of 
abuses from the infatuated monarch, and the banishment of 
Gaveston, which Edward was compelled to concede. Gaveston 
soon after venturing to return, was taken prisoner by the 
barons, who executed him, at Blacklow Hill, near Warwick. 
In 1314, on a treaty of peace being concluded with the barons, 
Edward invaded Scotland, which had been placed in the hands 
of the Earl of Richmond, who had driven Bruce into the 
northern parts of the kingdom; but before the invasion of 
Edward u., Bruce had been acknowledged by nearly the whole 
of Scotland, and appeared at the head of a large army, to defend 
the freedom of his country. The two kings met at Bannock- 
burn, near Stirling, where Edward, neglecting the sage advice 
of Umfraville, commenced the attack, and was defeated with 
dreadful slaughter; 30,000 men were left dead upon the field, 
exclusive of upwards of 250 of noble blood. Edward was 
reluctantly compelled to fly, and after many hair-breadth 
escapes, arrived in a skiff at Berwick, almost alone. About 
the same period, Edward Bruce, brother of the Scottish king, 
made a descent upon Ireland, and after vanquishing the Anglo- 
Irish armies, possessed himself of the throne, but was at length 
slain by the English champion, John Maupas, and the Scots 
were driven out of the island (1317). The war between 
Scotland and England was now feebly carried on, and consisted 
chiefly in aggressions upon the frontier provinces of either 
kingdom. On the loss of Berwick, Edward determined upon 
another expedition; he besieged the town, and after being 
frequently repulsed, was compelled to raise the siege (1319). 
He now advanced into Yorkshire, which was overrun by the 
Scots, as likewise were Cumberland and Westmorland. 
At last a treaty was entered into for two years, which paved 
the way for a peace, when Robert was acknowledged King of 
the Scots, without subjection or service. 

In 1321, de Spencer, who had succeeded Gaveston, excited 
the indignation of the barons, which was further heightened 
261 



.] ENGLAND EDWARD II., III. [§ 48. 

by the queen, who felt insulted by the overruling power of the 
favourite, who was banished. The barons appealed to arms, 
and under their leaders, the Earl of Lancaster, and Roger 
Mortimer, the chief of the Welsh marches, was signally de- 
feated at Boroughb ridge, when Lancaster, and numbers of the 
nobility, were taken prisoners, and beheaded at Pomfret Castle, 
in revenge for the execution of Gaveston. Mortimer and 
others were imprisoned, while several knights were hanged, 
drawn, and quartered. Eoger Mortimer, and several of the 
English nobility, contrived to break from their confinement, 
and escape to France, where they joined the malcontents. On 
the occasion of a rupture with that country, the king was per- 
suaded by his ministers to send the queen to negotiate the 
terms of a peace, which subsequently led to the renunciation 
of the French dominions in favour of the Prince of Wales, who 
was to do homage for them. Isabella, having affianced her son 
to the daughter of the Count of Hainault, with Mortimer, and 
several of the banished English nobility, arrived on the English 
coast, at Orwell, where she was joined by the more powerful 
barons, who, disgusted with the conduct of the king and his fa- 
vourite, de Spencer, at length deserted him. The king, with his 
minions, de Spencer and Baldock, with their followers, at length 
fled to Bristol, which the queen's army, now joined 
by the king's brother, the Earl of Kent, reduced, when the 
elder Spencer, then ninety years of age, and governor of that 
city, was hanged within sight of the king and the younger 
Spencer, who refuged in the castle. Edward, attended only 
by his two favourites, contrived to escape to Glamorganshire, 
when the prelates and barons in the queen's interest met at 
Bristol, and chose Edward of Aquitaine governor of the king- 
dom, on his father's behalf. At the beginning of the year 
1327, Edward. n., who had reached Kenilworth, was deposed 
by the parliament, which also resolved that his son should be 
crowned in his stead. The king was finally imprisoned in 
Berkeley Castle, where he was murdered by his keepers, and 
afterwards buried in Gloucester Abbey. 

7. Edward in. (1327 — 1377), was only fourteen on his 
accession : hence the queen and Mortimer ruled in his name ; 
but the latter, by an assumption of regal honour, offended the 
barons, while the licentiousness of the queen excited disgust 
in the minds of her subjects. The Earl of Kent, one of the 
members of the regency, was tried and executed; but the 
262 



§ 48.] ENGLAND — EDWARD Bff. [1331-69 A.D. 

daring and cruel deed was visited upon Mortimer (now Earl of 
March), who was seized by night, in the castle of Nottingham, 
brought to London, and, after being tried by the parliament, 
was executed. The queen was deprived of her lands, and, for 
the last twenty-seven years of her life, was compelled to live 
in a state of limited confinement at Risings. Edward now 
prepared for an attack upon Scotland, but the Scottish army 
having decamped, the English returned to Durham. In 1328, 
a peace was concluded at Edinburgh, when all claims of 
dominion and supremacy over Scotland were given up. On 
the death of* Robert Bruce, Lord Randolph was appointed 
regent, on behalf of the youthful David, who was crowned at 
Scone, 1331. On an insurrection of the disinherited nobility 
of Scotland, to recover their lands, the new regent (the Earl 
of March) was defeated, and John Baliol, one of the most 
powerful, usurped the Scottish throne, and, to secure its pos- 
session, met Edward, who was on his advance into the north, 
and renewed, in all its forms, the subjugation of the kingdom. 
Berwick Castle was ceded to the English, and landed posses- 
sions to the yearly amount of two thousand pounds. Baliol 
was soon dethroned, and compelled to flee into England, when 
Edward made preparations to assist his vassal. The battle of 
Halidon Hill, decided in favour of the English, placed Baliol 
on the throne, and Berwickshire, Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, 
Peeblesshire, and Dumfries shire, with Lothian, were ceded to 
the English monarch (1334). The Scottish nobility again 
drove Edward's vassal from the throne. The king twice in- 
vaded Scotland before the rightful sovereign, David Bruce, 
arrived, and assumed the reins of government (1341 ). 

For the -R-ars in France, consequent npon the claims of Edward in. 
to the French crown, see page 247. 

The Scots, taking advantage of Edward's absence in France, 
attacked the frontiers, and violated the truces which had been 
entered into, but suffered a dreadful defeat at Xeville's Cross, 
their king, David Bruce, being taken prisoner, with many of 
the chief nobility* Scotland was now ruled in the north by a 
regency, or steward, appointed fey the nobility who had escaped 
from the battle of Neville's Cross, while the country south of 
the Forth was in the hands of the lieutenant of the marches. 
Assisted by France, the Scottish nobles made another effort to 
shake off the yoke of the English monarch, and defeated his 
263 



A.D. 1369-86.] ENGLAND PJCHARD II. [§ 48. 

generals at Nesbit, and then attacked Berwick, the castle of 
which they failed to reduce. Edward, on his return from 
France, determined to put a final end to the invading of the 
Scots, and advanced with his victorious army to Berwick, 
when the enemy vacated the town, and retreated into their 
glens, dingles, and forests. Edward pursued, but found no 
provisions for his army, and was compelled to retreat, while 
the Scots, issuing from their recesses, harassed the English, and 
cut off vast numbers of them. Negotiations were now entered 
into; David was to be restored on the payment of 100,000 
marks, and hostages for the observance of the treaty to be 
delivered into the hands of the English. In 1369, a truce 
was entered into for fourteen years, and in 1370, the Scottish 
monarch died, when Robert n. succeeded to the crown. Ed- 
ward died at Canterbury, 1376. 

During the long reign of Edward, no less than seventy parliaments 
were assembled, and the assembly or parliament of the nation, was 
divided into the upper and lower houses ; the first consisting of barons 
and prelates, the latter of inferior barons and burgesses, or representa- 
tives of cities. 

8. Ei chard n. (1377—1399), of Bordeaux, the son of 
the Black Prince, succeeded, amidst the acclamations of his sub- 
jects. A regency, consisting of nine counsellors, was appointed, 
among whom was the Earl of Lancaster, John of Gaunt. In 
the year 1381, the revolt of the lower classes took place, who 
began to emancipate themselves from that oppression under 
which they had for so long a period laboured. Accident 
occasioned the outbreak. A collector of the Poll Tax having 
acted insultingly towards the daughter of Wat Tyler, a tiler 
of Dartmouth, the father of the maiden struck the collector to 
the earth. The men of Kent were aroused, and declared that 
there should be no slaves; and soon after the men of the 
eastern counties followed their example. Sixty thousand of 
the rebels met on Blackheath, and proceeded to attack 
London, of which they possessed themselves, and put the 
chancellor and the primate to death. Soon after, an inter- 
view took place in Smithfield, between Wat Tyler, the leader 
of the rebels, and the youthful king, attended by his coun- 
sellors and the lord mayor. The latter, judging from the 
conduct of the rebel chief that the king's life was endangered, 
plunged a poignard into the throat of Tyler, whose death 
was completed by one of the king's esquires, as he fell from 
264 



§ 48.] ENGLAND-HENRY OF LANCASTER-WYCLIFFE. [1398-9 A.D. 

his horse. The leader being slain, the revolt was soon crushed, 
but not until after 1,500 were hanged, and many others 
imprisoned. The king, although now in full age to exercise 
the prerogatives of the crown, yet intrusted the government 
to his two favourites, De Vere and De la Pole, the latter of 
whom, having been created Duke of Suffolk, was, through the 
influence of the Duke of Gloucester, tried before the commons, 
nor could the king wholly save him: his life was preserved, 
but he was severely fined. Gloucester was now placed at the 
head of affairs, when Richard, finding that the court of the 
regent was frequented rather than his own, procured from 
the judges, and his favourites, an opinion that the government 
of Gloucester was illegal. The latter at once took up arms, 
and many of his adherents were executed, while others took 
to flight or were banished. The king now threw off his fetters, 
and notified, by a public proclamation, that he had taken the 
whole government of the kingdom into his own hands. Soon 
after, he visited his Irish dominions, and, to secure peace with 
France, espoused the Princess Isabella. On his return, he 
began to wreak his vengeance on the nobles, who had so long 
ruled with a high hand, both over the nation and himself. 
Gloucester, Warwick, and Arundel were tried for treason, 
when the former was banished, and the two latter imprisoned 
in the Tower. On the meeting of parliament (1398), the acts 
of Gloucester were annulled, and the opinions of the judges 
confirmed, while the favourite De la Pole was recalled. Richard 
now ruled more tyrannically, and that alienated his subjects 
from his government. On his expedition to Ireland, remark- 
able for the splendour of the king's retinue, Henry, duke 
of Lancaster, urged by the discontented barons, left 
Paris for England, and raised the standard of rebellion. In a 
few days he was joined by 60,000 men, and on marching to 
London, compelled the regent (Duke of York) to abandon the 
capital. Bristol, the refuge of the partisans of Richard, sur- 
rendered, and lords Scroop, Bussy, and Green were tried and 
executed. Richard arrived soon after from Ireland, and took 
refuge in Conway Castle, from which place, under a solemn 
assurance of safety, he was induced to withdraw, and was 
seized as a prisoner by Northumberland, and conveyed into 
the presence of Henry, by whom he was committed to Chester 
Castle, and from thence to the Tower. In 1399, his abdica- 
tion, ratified by the lords and commons, took place, and 
265 n 



A.D. 1399-1413.] ENGLAND-HENRY OF LANCASTER. [§ 48. 

Henry, duke of Lancaster, was acknowledged king, amidst 
the applause of the multitude. 

In 1382 commenced the persecution of WyclifFe, one of the most 
famous doctors of the English church, who was arraigned before a 
national synod, under Archbishop Courtenay, and bis works con- 
demned. The doctrines propounded by this early English reformer 
correspond, in most instances, with those of the Church of England 
in the present day.* In conseqiience of the persecution raised against 
him , and the publicity thus given to his doctrines, nearly one half of 
England embraced the so called heretical opinions, and were termed, by 
way of reproach, Lollards (Wycliffites) . In 1396, the members of the 
University of Oxford became so tinged with the doctrines of Wycliffe, 
that it was subjected to visitation, on which occasion many of the 
conclusions of the reformer were condemned ; yet, in 1406, the univer- 
sity seal was affixed to testimonials of good character and propriety of 
behaviour on his behalf. Subsequently, however, the followers of 
Wycliffe were persecuted, and many of them sealed the truth with 
their blood. The first martyr was William Sawtrey, of London, 
clergyman, brought to the stake by Archbishop Arundel, because he 
refused to worship the cross, and denied the doctrine of transubstantia- 
tion. Wycliffe died in his parish of Lutterworth, being struck with 
palsy while performing divine service in the church. 

B. Three Kings of the House of Lancaster 

(a collateral line of the House of Plant agenet), 

1399—1461. 
Henry iv. (1399 — 1413), of capacity and vigour, was 
the idol of the populace, and the chief of the baronial party ; 
an unresisted army was at his command, and the parliament 
was ready to obey his mandates. ' The house of York there- 
fore was not in a condition to contest the crown with him. 
Richard, the late king, was still a prisoner ; but on the unsuc- 
cessful rebellion of the barons in his favour, to release him, 
and then to restore him to his titles, he was starved to 
death (?), while many of his followers were beheaded. The 
truce with Scotland being ended, the Scots began again to 
make inroads into the border counties. Henry marched 
against them, and advanced to Edinburgh. The Scots retired, 
and Henry, after besieging the city, was compelled to return 
to England. In 1403, the Welsh northern chiefs rose in re- 
bellion, assisted by the Percies of Scotland. Earl Douglas, 
with a Scotch army, met the king at Shrewsbury, when 
they were defeated with great slaughter. Percy, with 200 
knights, and 5,000 men, being left dead on the field. Soon 

* Short's " History of the Church of England," page 62. 
266 



§ 48.] ENGLAND HENRY V., VI. [1413-53 A.D. 

after, another rising took place, under the valiant chieftain 
Owen Glendower. This was settled by an amnesty, and 
Henry of Monmouth, the king's son, was made lord-lieutenant 
of Wales, when he marched against Owen's son, and gained 
the victory of Grosmont. This, for a while, crippled the 
Welch, but war was, however, maintained at intervals down 
to 1418. In 1402, the Scottish irruptions were again com- 
menced, but Sir Henry Percy (Hotspur), and his father, the 
Earl of Northumberland, defeated the Scots at Halidon Hill, 
with great slaughter, when Sir Henry Percy was created earl 
of Douglas by the king, who evinced great pleasure at the 
success of his vassal's arms. Henry, who had long been sub- 
ject to epilepsy, died at Westminster, 1413, in the fourteenth 
year of his reign, and the forty-seventh of his age, leaving his 
crown to his brave son. 

Henry v. (1413 — 1422), who, on his accession, restored 
the Percies to their possessions in Scotland, and released his 
cousin, the Earl of March, from his imprisonment. (For the 
wars in France, see page 253.) On the absence of Henry in 
France, the Scots took the opportunity of again invading the 
borders, but were defeated by the dukes of Exeter and Bed- 
ford, who compelled them to raise the sieges of Roxburgh and 
Berwick. Henry, the victor of Agincourt, died in France, at 
Vincennes, 1422, leaving the Duke of Bedford, regent of 
France, and the Duke of Gloucester, protector of England, 
during the minority of 

Henry vi. (1422 — 1461), who was proclaimed King of 
France as well as of England. After the death of the regent 
Bedford (1435), the French possessions were, with the exception 
of Maine and Anjou, Calais and the Channel Islands, entirely 
lost. On the marriage of Henry with the imperious Margaret, 
Maine and Anjou were bestowed upon Rene, the bride's father, 
and titular king of Sicily and Jerusalem. On the union of the 
Duke of Burgundy with the French king, the war against the 
English was prosecuted with renewed vigour. In 1449 Rouen 
capitulated; Cherbourg in 1450; and on the surrender of Bor- 
deaux, in 1453, Calais and the Channel Islands alone remained 
to the English. The giving away of the French provinces of 
Maine and Anjou, and the loss of Rouen and Bordeaux, etc., 
excited general discontent, while the factions of Beaufort and 
Gloucester agitated the country from one end of it to another. 
On the elevation of Margaret by her marriage with Henry, at 
267 n2 



A.D. 1453-61.] ENGLAND WARS OF THE ROSES. [§ 48. 

the instigation of the Beaufort faction, the Gloucester party 
soon experienced the weight of her vindictive power: the 
Duke was arraigned before the parliament (1447), and soon 
after murdered in prison (?). The head of the Lancas- 
trian party being now removed, the downfall of that house 
soon followed. On the death of her favourite minister, the 
Duke of Suffolk, a rebellion broke out in Kent, headed by 
John Cade. The court was compelled to remove to Kenil- 
worth, but the citizens of the metropolis armed, and van- 
quished the rebels, many of whose chiefs they hanged, while a 
great number of their deluded followers was slaughtered. On 
the death of Humphrey of Gloucester, Richard stood next in 
succession to the throne, and had a title to it even superior to 
that of the reigning monarch (see genealogical table) : and on 
the birth of a prince, 1453 (the illfated Prince Edward), the 
Yorkists, during the imbecility of the king, endeavoured to 
place Richard at the head of the administration, and im- 
peached the queen's favourite, Somerset, whom they committed 
to the Tower, and nominated Richard of Gloucester pro- 
tector of the kingdom. On the partial restoration of the king, 
the queen assumed the government in his name, and released 
Suffolk, when the opposition between the reigning house of 
Lancaster, and the Yorkists, broke out into an open warfare 
(theWars of the Roses), which desolated the kingdom 
for upwards of thirty years, during which twelve pitched bat- 
tles were fought, many of the princes of the blood perished, 
and one half of the nobility of the kingdom, with nearly all the 
principal gentry, fell in the unhappy contest. The first battle 
was that of St. Albans, when Somerset was slain, and the 
king taken prisoner. The latter was, hoAvever, treated kindly 
and with courtesy by Richard, who was now a second time 
proclaimed protector. The intrigues of the queen, however, 
deprived Richard once more of his protectorate, and he retired 
from court. On occasion of hostile demonstrations on the 
part of the Lancastrians, fostered by the queen, the Yorkists 
again took up arms, and defeated the Royalists at Blore Heath 
(1459). At the battle of Northampton, the queen and prince 
were compelled to flee for their lives, while the imbecile and 
inoffensive monarch again fell into the hands of the Yorkists, 
who still treated him with great kindness. In the parliament 
held at York, 1461, Richard made a formal demand of the 
crown, founded on his descent from Lionel, duke of Clarence, 
268 



§ 48.] ENGLAND EDWARD IV. [1461-83 A.D. 

third son of Edward in. Counsel were heard by the lords, 
who decided that Richard should hold the protectorate, and 
that on the death of Henry the crown should devolve to the 
house of York, its right being certain and indefeasible. The 
queen could not endure the disinheriting of her son, and hence 
the Lancastrians made another effort in support of their party. 
The opposing armies met at Wakefield, when the Duke of York 
fell in the engagement, and his son, a boy of twelve years of 
age, was cruelly butchered by the Lord Clifford. Edward, earl 
of March, learning the fate of his father and brother, soon 
mustered his troops, and advanced to meet the Lancastrians at 
Mortimer's Cross, near Hereford, where he defeated them with 
great slaughter, and cruelly put to death many of his noble 
prisoners, in revenge for the death of his father. At St. 
Albans, the queen was, however, once more triumphant ; 
Warwick was defeated, and the king released from his cus- 
tody. Warwick, having joined Edward, the queen's party 
was compelled to retire before them. Edward entered London 
with acclamations, and was soon after proclaimed king, by the 
title of Edward iv. 

C. Three Kings of the House of York, 1461-1485. 

1. Edward iv. (1461—1483), the rose of Rouen, had 
still to contend with the Lancastrians, who, with their army of 
60,000 men, were concentrated at York, to maintain their 
cause. The opposing forces met at Towton, when 20,000 of 
the Lancaster forces were left dead on the field of battle, after 
which Edward entered York in triumph. Margaret, the 
queen, now sought assistance from France, and landed in 
Northumberland, where she was opposed by Warwick, and 
compelled again to seek safety in flight. On the breaking out 
of differences between Warwick and the king, the former, 
being obliged, as an outlaw, to retire to France, espoused the 
cause of Margaret, and the Prince Edward, her son, whom he 
engaged to seat on the throne of England, in the place of 
their mutual enemy, Edward iv. Warwick landed at Ply- 
mouth, when the partisans of his house flocked to his stan- 
dard in such numbers, that the king, seeing resistance to be 
hopeless, embarked for Holland. Warwick, however, instead 
of seating Prince Edward on the throne, caused the imprisoned 
king, Henry vl, to be brought from the Tower, and placed 
him upon the throne. Edward, who had not been inactive in 
269 



A.D. 1483-85.] ENGLAND-EDWARD V.-RICHARD IE. [§ 48. 

his exile, on obtaining the support of his brother, Charles, 
duke of Burgundy, resolved to prosecute his claims to the 
English throne, and for that purpose effected a landing at 
Ravenspur, 1471. Multitudes flocked to his banners, and 
after a short time, he proceeded triumphantly towards the 
south, where he engaged the forces of Warwick at Barnet, 
and utterly defeated them. Warwick fell in the engage- 
ment. Edward again gave battle to the Lancastrians (now 
joined by Margaret and her son) at Tewkesbury, when he 
was again victorious, the queen and her son falling into his 
hands as prisoners. The young Prince Henry was barba- 
rously murdered, and the queen was committed to prison, 
until her ransom by the French monarch, when she returned 
to France, and died in seclusion. Henry vi. was found dead 
in the Tower (probably by the dagger of Richard of Glou- 
cester). The noble house of Lancaster was now extinct, with 
the exception of Henry Tudor, who fled to Bretagne (Brit- 
tany). The remaining years of Edward's reign was a calm : 
he caused his infant son to be created prince of Wales, and 
declared his successor, and, in 1483, closed his anxious career. 

2. Edward v. (1483) reigned only nominally for the short 
space of eleven weeks, when he was set aside by his ambitious 
guardian and uncle, Richard, duke of Gloucester, who, having 
imprisoned his nephews in the Tower, ascended the throne. 

3. Richard m. (1483 — 1485), in order to the security 
of his throne, commanded the murder of his two nephews. A 
conspiracy was organized in their favour, when their death, 
hitherto kept a profound secret, was made known, without any 
allusion to the circumstances under which it took place. This 
served to strengthen the conspiracy. At length, the Lancas- 
trians, under Henry Tudor, who had arrived from France, 
coalesced with the discontented Yorkists, and prepared to de- 
throne the cruel and ambitious Richard, whom they engaged 
at Bosworth Field, where he fell, covered with wounds. The 
Plantagenet line now ended, and that of the Tudors com- 
menced, with Henry vn., who, by his marriage with the Prin- 
cess Elizabeth, united the two houses of Lancaster and York. 
The conflict between the two houses did not, however, wholly 
terminate, but continued for a long time after the struggle for 
the succession had ended, in consequence of the conduct of the 
king, who wished to avoid the appearance of being indebted to 
the Yorkist party for his accession to the throne. 

270 



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o 



A.D. 1237-1492.] SPAIN PYREN.EAN PENINSULA. [§ 49. 

§ 49. 
THE PYKENJEAN PENINSULA.. 

The only possession of the Arabs in Spain, in 1237, was 
the little kingdom of Granada, which was generally dependent 
upon that of Castile, but enjoyed, in consequence of its excel- 
lent internal government, a considerable portion of agricul- 
tural, commercial, and political prosperity, until 1492, when, 
in consequence of a disputed succession, it was, on the sur- 
render of Granada, united to Castile. Ferdinand and Isabella ? 
who made a triumphal entry into the city, constituted it an 
archiepiscopal see. 

Only two Christian kingdoms now remained in 
the peninsula, besides that of Castile and Arragon — P o r - 
tugal and Navarre, and the latter was in the last stage 
of exhaustion and debility. Arragon had lost the greater 
portion of its French territories, but, on the expulsion of 
the French from Sicily, during the Sicilian Vespers, obtained 
that kingdom as a fief from the pope, 1282, to which also 
the Arragonese monarch had a legal claim, by his marriage 
with the daughter of Manfred, son of the Hohenstaufen em- 
peror of Germany, Frederick u. James n. added Sardinia 
and Corsica; and in 1375, the Balearic Isles were finally 
annexed to the kingdom. Naples, through the interest of the 
Duke of Milan, and the valour of Alphonso, was, for a while, 
connected with Arragon; but on the death of that monarchy 
it was bequeathed to his son Ferdinand (1469). John n., the 
brother of Alphonso, succeeded to the crown of Arragon and 
Navarre, and declared his son Frederick, king of Sicily. By 
the marriage of the latter with Isabella, the heiress of Castile, 
the two crowns of Arragon and Castile (on the death of John 
ii., of Arragon, and the termination of disputes in Castile) 
became united (1479). From this period, the kingdoms of 
Castile, Arragon, and Navarre (south of the Alps), may be 
regarded as merged into the common appellation of Spain. 
Each kingdom, however, was separately governed during the 
lives of Ferdinand and Isabella, while their respective consti- 
tutions also remained unchanged. In 1492, the city of 
Granada, the last stronghold of the Arabs, surrendered, when 
the kingdom of Granada, after a sanguinary conflict of ten 
years' duration, fell beneath the arms of the Spaniards, and 
Ferdinand adopted the title of King of the Spains. 
272 



§ 49.] KINGDOMS OF NAVARRE AND PORTUGAL. [1305-1433 A.D. 

Navarre, until 1305, was annexed to France, and on 
the death of Louis x. (1316), should have passed to his 
daughter Johanna. It was retained, however, by the French 
kings (her guardians and uncles) until the accession of Philip 
of Valois, 1328, when Johanna was acknowledged queen, and 
married the Count of Champagne, who added Angoulesme, and 
some other territories, to its dominions. In the reign of King 
John of France, the French possessions of the kingdom of 
Navarre were seized, and never again restored; the small 
duchy of Nemours was the only indemnity that could be ob- 
tained. At length the kingdom passed by marriage into the 
houses of Foix and Albret ; but during the reign of the great 
Ferdinand of Arragon, the greatest part fell into his hands by 
conquest, the only portion left to the king of Navarre being 
on the French side of the Alps. 

In Portugal, the legitimate line of kings, descendants of 
Henry of Burgundy, had failed in Don Ferdinand (1383). On 
the death of that monarch, Don John, the illegitimate brother 
of Ferdinand, and the Master of the Knights of Avis, invited 
the king of Castile to take possession of the throne, and to 
confer upon him the regency. This not being acceded to, and, 
knowing the aversion of the Portuguese to the Castilian sway, 
he seized the regency for himself; but in this he was opposed 
by the queen of Ferdinand, who had been left regent, and the 
king of Castile. After several conflicts, the claimants, wearied 
with their dissensions, submitted to an election by the Cortez, 
when the Master of Avis was elected and proclaimed king, by 
the title of J o h n I. The king of Castile would not, however, 
abide by the election, and again took up arms. John gained 
a complete victory, and, on the arrival of the Duke of Lan- 
caster, John of Gaunt, with an English army, Portugal was 
cleared of its enemies. John next endeavoured to recover 
Mauritania, but only succeeded in taking Ceuta, which he kept 
in spite of the repeated attacks of the Moors. He died 1433'. 

Among the many sons of King John, was Henry, the grand master of 
the Order of Knights of Christ, who had accompanied his father in the 
African wars against the infidels, and resolved to turn his attention 
towards the more remote heathen. He made himself conversant with 
the sciences of geography, astronomy, and mathematics, and drew 
around him, at Sagres, all the learned men, travellers, and mariners 
within his reach. Having satisfied himself with the possibility of sail- 
ing round Africa, and thus reaching the Eastern Indies, he built and 
collected vessels in the harbour of Sagres, and" sent them forth on 
273 N 3 



A.D. 1021.] BYZANTINE EMPIRE. [§ 50. 

voyages of discovery. Cape Non had never been passed, and for many 
years, King John and his son had to struggle against the murmurs of 
the people, who exclaimed against the waste of men and money occa- 
sioned by the Infante's mania for discovery. In 1418, however, 
Madeira was discovered by the mariners of Henry's ships ; and almost 
about the same time, the Canaries were made known, through an Eng- 
lish vessel which had been driven from her course. The discovery of 
the Azores and the Cape de Yerde Islands followed ; and on the dis- 
covery of Guinea, the murmurs of the Portuguese ceased. The gold 
proved abundant, while the traffic hi captured slaves proved a source of 
great wealth to all who engaged in it, the professed object of which, 
however, was to save their souls, by their conversion to Christianity. 
The Infante lived to see the African coast, as far as Sierra Leone, ex- 
plored, and the Azores and the Cape de Yerde Islands, which were 
bestowed upon the crown of Portugal by the Pope, colonized. 

In 1486, the kings of Portugal assumed the title of Lord of Gruinea, 
and in the same year, the southernmost extremity of Africa was 
rounded by Bartholomew Diaz, when the name ofCabo Tormen- 
t o s a , or Stormy Cape, was given to it. 

B. The East. 

§ 50. 

THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE UNDER THE PAL^OLOGI, . 

1261—1458. 

The emperors of the house of Palseologus, whose ancestor, 
Michael, had obtained possession of Constantinople in 1201, 
continued to reunite the fragments of the Byzantine empire, 
with the exception of the principalities and duchies which had 
been founded by the Venetians and Genoese, etc. But the 
princes of this house were feeble, and under the control of the 
patriarchs and monks, who aggravated the disorders of the 
state by their continued theological disputes, while the ran- 
cour and fury of the various schismatics and sectaries pro- 
moted internal dissensions. Civil wars and court intrigues 
combined with these, hastened the final destruction of the 
empire, and prevented any effectual opposition to the advance 
of the Osman Turks. 

The Byzantine emperors, during their conflicts with the Osmans, 
made freqnent appeals to the European princes for assistance, but 
in vain. The monarchs of Christendom looked tamely on; but had 
they formed one common league against the Turks, the probability 
is, that Europe would have been saved from their devastation. The 
nations, however, were composed of such opposite races, and many 
of these, too, were as yet but so little removed from barbarism, 
that a union for common defence was impossible. Added to this. 
274 



§ 51.] BYZANTINE EMPIRE THE OSMAN TURKS. [1303-26 A.D. 

there was also a general lack of powerful and firm administration in 
the various kingdoms and provinces, and no energy had been dis- 
played in putting them in a state of defence : hence they were open 
to the attacks of the invaders, who, in a very short time, settled down 
in security on some of the fairest portions of the European continent. 
The Byzantine emperor contented himself with the defence of the 
imperial city, and its environs, and left the provinces to defend them- 
selves; so that they were soon lost to the empire, and the Turks 
placed in a position to gain possession of the capital itself. 

To obtain support from the West, even the union of the 
Greek with the Latin church was proposed; this, however, 
proved ineffectual; but the invasion of the Mongols for a 
time saved the empire. Timur Lenk poured down upon the 
Turks with his countless hordes, and diverted their attention 
from the enterprize. The delay was, however, short. Mo- 
hammed ii., in 1453, invested Constantinople with an army 
of 300,000 combatants, supported by a fleet of 300 sail; and 
on the 29th of May, after a vigorous siege of fifty-three days, 
the city surrendered, and the Christians were finally over- 
thrown, and carried into slavery. The Peloponnesus was 
now speedily overrun ; and the empire of Trebizond, and all 
the minor Greek states in the Archipelago, with the Morea, 
Epirus, and Attica fell into the hands of Mohammed. Cyprus 
alone remained, and became a dependency of the Venetian 
republic. 

§ 51. 

THE OSMANS. 

On the invasion of the Seldjukian kingdom by the Gaznave- 
dian Tartars, the princes of Aladin revolted, when that sultan 
sought refuge in the Greek empire, where he was put to death 
by the orders of Michael Pakeologus (1303). On his death, 
Osman, or Othman, by threats, and by large bribes, prevailed 
upon the other princes to elect him as sultan, when he 
assumed the title of Emperor of the Osmans, and 
fixed his residence first at Carachissar, then at Jenghisheri. 
At first, his dominions embraced only parts of Galatia and 
Bithynia, but they were soon after extended, until at length 
they comprehended the greater portion of Asia Minor and 
Thracia. In 1326, the city of Brusa was taken by his son 
Orchan, and, in the following year, the province of Semendra, 
and the capital, Hereki. During his reign the army received 
a regular pay, but as the troops frequently mutinied, the for- 
275 



A.D. 1337-1453.] OSMAN OR TURKISH EMPIRE. [§ 51. 

mation of the corps of Janizaries (new soldiers) took place, 
composed of Christian youths instructed in the Mohammedan 
faith. Towards the middle of the fourteenth century (1337), 
the lasting conquests of the Turks in Europe commenced. 
The whole of Bithynia, and much of Phrygia, on the defeat of 
the Chandars (a Tartar race in Kermia), being subdued, 
Orchan sent his son Soliman to attempt a passage into Europe, 
probably that he might effect the destruction of the Byzan- 
tine empire. Soliman, and eighty chosen followers, passed 
over the Propontis on a raft, supported by ox-bladders, and 
having, by threats and promises, obtained shipping, fetched 
over from the Asiatic snores 3,000 Osmans (1338). With 
these he subsequently took the key of Constantinople (the 
city of Gallipolis). In the following year (1360), Epibaton 
and Chorlu on the Propontis were taken, and before the con- 
clusion of the fourteenth century, Macedonia, Thracia, and the 
empire of the Servians, as well as Bulgaria and Wallachia, 
were compelled to acknowledge the Turkish supremacy. 
Elated with their successes, they proceeded to extend their 
conquests over Southern Hungary, and, probably, Styria ; 
they vanquished the forces of Europe, under the command of 
the King of Hungary, at Nicopolis, and would have ravaged 
the whole of Western Europe, but they were stopped in their 
victorious career by the losses which they sustained in the 
East, where the great conqueror of the eastern world, Timur 
Lenk (Tamerlane), met them on the plains of Angora, in the 
Minor Asia, and slaughtered upwards of 100,000 of their 
troops, and took their sultan, Bayazeed (Bajazet), prisoner* 
(1402). The receipt of unfavourable news from Persia com- 
pelled the return of Timur to his Asiatic provinces ; and the 
Turks, freed from the presence of their conqueror, not only 
survived the shock, but soon re-established themselves in all 
their former greatness. For upwards of fifty years the Osman 
Turks were engaged in conflicts with the Greeks, the Alba- 
nians, and the Hungarians, as well as with the Venetians and 
Genoese. In the year 1453, the capital of the Byzantine 
empire (Constantinople) was taken, and, soon after, 
the little but strong kingdom of Trapezunt (Trebizond — see 
§ 50) fell into their hands. 

* The story of the conqueror being carried about in an iron cage is a 
fable. Timur consented to leave hhn the empire, and granted the in- 
vestiture of it to Bayazeed and his two sons. 
276 



§ 52.] THE MONGOLS TIMUR THE TARTAR. [1357-1530 A.D. 

§ 52. 

THE MONGOLS. 

Timur the Tartar, or Tamerlane, was a son of one of the 
emirs, or princes, of the Chagata-orda (Jagatai horde), the 
descendants of the great Ghenghis Khan. Transoxiana was 
the theatre of his first exploits ; there he seized upon the ter- 
ritories of the khans of Jagatai, and fixed his capital at 
Samarcand. Persia, the whole of Upper Asia, Kipzac, and 
Hindostan, to the source of the Ganges, were successively 
vanquished by him. Cruelty and bloodshed marked all his 
conquests, and huge towers (of which there were no less than 
120 in Persia alone) formed of the heads of his vanquished 
enemies, were among his dearest trophies. In 1400-1, the 
Turks, who had seized all the possessions of the Greek empire, 
with the exception of the capital, compelled the emperor to 
allow the introduction of the Mohammedan ritual into the city, 
and the residence of a cadi, to settle disputes. On these con- 
ditions a peace was concluded. Bayazeed becoming vigorous 
in the execution of these demands, Palseologus appealed to 
Tamerlane for assistance ; and about the same period, the 
emir of Baghdat, whose wife and two sons had been forcibly 
seized by Bayazeed, also complained to the Tartar sultan, and 
sought his help. Tamerlane undertook to rescue them from 
the tyrant, and commenced negotiations; but the haughty 
Osman, hardened and obstinate, resolved to settle the dispute 
by an appeal to arms. On the plains of Angora, near Prusa, 
the two armies met, and continued fighting the whole day: 
340,000 J*$en strewed the field of battle, of which nearly 
100,000 belonged to the Osman Turks. Bayazeed was taken 
prisoner, and died of apoplexy, at Akshehr, eight months 
after the dreadful conflict. Tamerlane retired to Iconium, 
and shortly after died as he was on his way to China. After 
his decease, the empire was contested between his son and 
grandson, during which it became dismembered, and at length 
yielded to the Usbegs. The celebrated Baber, a descendant 
of Tamerlane, however, after a glorious contest with the 
Usbeg khan, Shay Beg or Shybuk, retired to Ghazna, and 
thence to India, where he founded a great empire in Hindostan 
(the Mogul empire), which remains to this day in the hands 
of his nominal descendants. 
277 



A.D. 1044-1336.] KINGDOM OF SWEDEN. [§ 52. 

C. The North-east of Europe. 

The ancient kings of Danemark (Denmark) were known 
by the name of Skioldungs, descended from Skiold, a 
pretended son of the celebrated Odin, who, from being the 
conqueror, was elevated into the deity of the north. The 
monarchs who reigned after Sweyn n., were named Estri- 
t hides, from that sovereign, whose mother's name was 
E s t r i t h , and sister to Canute the Great. Sweyn was a 
great warrior, and raised the standard of revolt against 
Magnus, king of Norway (1044), and maintained the in- 
dependency of Denmark, and possession of the throne, until 
his death. 

Sweden had been governed in succession by the dynas- 
ties of Stenkild (a Christian of West Gothland), Swerker 
(from Charles Swerkerson, king of the Swedes and Goths), 
and Eric (the first Swedish monarch who is mentioned as 
having been crowned). During the reigns of the princes of 
these dynasties the whole nation was divided into two fac- 
tions, the Gothic and the Swedish, each differing in religious 
sentiments, and embroiling the kingdom in civil wars. In the 
midst of which, however, they attempted foreign conquests, 
and embraced many military crusades for the conversion of 
the heathen. In 1157, Eric conquered Finland, colonized 
Nyland, and partly subdued the provinces of Helsingeland 
and Jamptland. Charles i. (Swerkerson) united the kingdom 
of Gothland to Sweden, and Eric the L a s p e (Lisper), in the 
character of a military missionary, conquered Tavastland and 
Eastern Bothnia. B i r g e r , of the dynasty of the Folkun- 
gers (1250 — 1365), under the pretext of converting the 
heathen, subdued Carelia and Savolax, fortified Viborg, and 
built Stockholm, which he annexed to Sweden. Waldemar 
obtained Sudermania, with the castle of Nykceping. Mag- 
nus Eric son (1333), on assuming the reigns of govern- 
ment, took the title of King of Sweden, Norway, and Scania, 
and in 1336, issued an edict prohibiting the children of chris- 
tian parents from being slaves. During his reign, Scania, 
Halland, and Blekinge, were confirmed to Sweden, Walde- 
mar of Denmark agreeing to renounce his claims upon them. 
On the breaking out of the great plague (brought to Eugen 
from London), by which nearly two-thirds of the inhabitants 
of Norway, and a vast number in Sweden, were cut off, 
278 



§ 52.] KINGDOM OF DENMARK AND SWEDEN. [1360-1412 A.D. 

Haco, the younger son of Magnus, assumed the government 
of Norway, while Eric was raised to the throne of Sweden, 
by a faction opposed to Magnus, and his favourite, Bennet 
Algotson. On the death of Eric, by poison, Magnus was 
again acknowledged king, and ceded Scania, Halland, and 
Biekinge, to Waldemar of Denmark, on condition that he 
supported him against the Swedish council, opposed to his 
government. The council, in 1361, invited Haco of Norway 
(son of Magnus), to seize his person, and to assume the 
sovereignty, which he did, and soon after married the Prin- 
cess Margaret, the daughter and heiress of the king of Den- 
mark. Haco, having banished twenty-four of the most 
powerful of the disaffected barons, they proceeded to Ger- 
many, and offered the crown of their native country to Albert, 
duke of Mecklenburg, and nephew to Waldemar, who, on his 
arrival at Stockholm, was elected king. On resorting to arms, 
Magnus was made prisoner. Haco soon after arrived from 
Norway, and pushing on to Stockholm, laid siege to the town. 
Albert, by conceding to the Swedish council all that they 
demanded, however, retained the nominal possession of the 
sovereignty. 

Denmark and Sweden . — On the death of Waldemar 
of Denmark (1375), Margaret, the wife of Haco of Norway, 
was nominated regent in Denmark; and on the death of her 
husband, Haco, she became queen regnant in Norway: thus 
Norway and Sweden were united. About the same period, a 
rupture took place between the nobles of Sweden and Albert, 
which occasioned a civil war, in the midst of which the heirs 
of Boece Jonson, a powerful thane, in whose hands were the 
principal castles and strongholds of the kingdom, made an 
overture of the Swedish crown to Margaret, which she ac- 
cepted. Albert's fate was decided at Ealkceping (1369), where 
he, with his retinue of German princes and knights, were 
made prisoners. Soon after, a treaty was signed; Albert and 
his son Eric were ransomed; and Sweden had become so de- 
pressed, that it accepted the conditions imposed upon it by 
Margaret. The coronation took place at Calmar, where, in 
1397, the treaty of Calmar was signed, which, for the 
future, was to combine the three kingdoms of the north (Den- 
mark, Norway, and Sweden) under a common sceptre, each, 
however, to be governed by its own councils and laws. Mar- 
garet died, 1-412, and was succeeded by Eric of Pomerania, 
279 



A.D. 1412-64.] DENMARK AND SWEDEN RUSSIA. [§ 53. 

who, for thirty years, was engaged against the powerful counts ■ 
of Holstein, and in fruitless endeavours to secure the succes- 
sion of the kingdom to the ducal house of Pomerania. During 
his reign, the revolt of the peasants against the governors 
of the kingdom, and the nobility of Sweden, took place, 
under the celebrated Engelbert Engelbertson, a miner. The 
king met the peasants at Stockholm, and agreed to redress 
their grievances : but the Swedish governors, continued to 
oppress the people, while the king was too weak to oppose 
the greater barons : the kingdom was therefore in a state of 
revolt and civil war. In 1438, Sweden and Denmark finally 
renounced obedience to Eric, and offered the crown to Chris- 
topher of Bavaria, who accepted it (1439). On his death 
(1448), the crown of Sweden, and afterwards that of Nor- 
way, were bestowed upon Charles Canuteson, the governor 
of Finland, and that of Denmark, upon Christian of Olden- 
burg. Christian determined to press his claims upon Sweden, 
and took up arms to enforce them. After a severe conflict of 
nine years, at the close of which Canuteson and his party 
was defeated, Christian was crowned king at Upsala, 1457. 
Having raised a considerable sum of money in his new king- 
dom, he extended it by the purchase of the county of Hol- 
stein. In 1464, in consequence of the oppression of the king, 
who was constantly levying heavy taxes upon the people, a 
revolt took place, and Charles Canuteson was elected, but 
after six months was again expelled. He was, however, sub- 
sequently chosen, for the third time, and ended his career 
fighting against Christian in defence of his crown. 

§ 53. 

RUSSIA. 

As early as the beginning of the sixth century, we have proof of an 
intercourse subsisting between Scandinavia and Southern Europe. The 
Varangians, or Varagians, had, from a remote period, served in the 
imperial body guard of the emperors of Constantinople : hence their 
name of Fargani, or Varagi (seafaring men or soldiers serving by 
agreement), synonymous with tbe feeder uti of tbe Gothic mercenaries. 
The Greeks assert that they came from the remote north, from an 
enormous island (Thule), where the inhabitants travelled and hunted 
on incurvated pieces of wood (sledges), and reindeer existed in abund- 
ance, while the people were divided into many tribes or nations. On 
the alleged foundation of the Russian empire by the Swedish Yaragian 
chief Ruric, they were already powerful enough to attack the eastern 
280 



§ 53.] RUSSIA RURIC YAROSLAV. [490-1015 A.D. 

empire ; and the sea-kings of the Ross, or Rosch as the Greeks call 
them, more than once threatened Constantinople itself. In the reign 
of Igor, the son of Ruric, the Ross are said to have descended the 
Don, and drawn their boats with them (a Scandinavian custom) to the 
Wolga, which they descended ; and after having plundered either the 
Greeks or the Turkish tribes on the Black Sea and Caspian, returned 
to their own dominions. According to Constantine, a Russian patri- 
arch, the first princes that ruled over Kiov were three brothers 
of Russian extraction, who, at the close of the fifth century, built 
Cioba, or Kiov. Nestor, who wrote in the eleventh century, states 
that Varagian chiefs had come across the sea (Baltic, or sea of Vara- 
gua), and subjugated the Finns and Sclaves, the latter locating on the 
south of the L. Tshodskoe Osero (Pripet), and made them tributary. 
At the expiration of two years, these tribes drove out the Varagians, 
and compelled them to recross the sea into their own territory in 
Sweden. Intestine warfare having weakened the Sclaves, they invited 
the Yaragian chiefs over again into then' territories, and offered them 
the sovereignty of their country (862). Among the bands of warriors 
which arrived, were Ruric and his two brothers, Sineus and Truvor. 
Ruric took up his abode at Aldeiaberg (Novgorod). During his reign, 
two princes of Kiov, Oschold and Idir, went to the court of Ruric to 
be instructed, and on their return found their principality overrun by 
the Chazars. At length the princes of Kiov became sufficiently powerful 
to attack the Greek empire, but being repulsed with great loss, they 
retreated to their capital. Ruric, hearing of their defeat, hastened from 
Aldeiaberg (Novgorod) to Cioba (Kiov), and finding the princes too 
weak to offer any successful resistance, he murdered them, and took 
possession of their principality, over which his descendants reigned 
until the close of the sixteenth century (1598). 

Ruric, the founder of the grand principality or dukedorn 
of Russia, fixed his first residence at Gardarike, or Aldeiaberg 
(Ladoga, since Novgorod). On subjecting the princes of 
Cioba, or Kiov, he fixed his residence at the latter, where he 
died (878), and was succeeded by Igor, his son, murdered by 
the Drevlians. Swetoslav followed, who was treacherously 
killed by a Petchenegan chief, who made a drinking cup of his 
skull. In 988, his valiant son, Vladimer, ascended the 
throne, when he invaded the Greek empire, and, to secure 
a lasting peace, consented to be baptized (at Chersona, in 
Taurida), and married Anne, the sister of Basil n., of Con- 
stantinople. During his reign, he subdued the district of Eed 
Russia, to the Carpathian Mountains: south, it extended to 
the Dniester and the Boug, and east, to the Yolga. 

This prince first introduced the name of Russians among the Sclavic 

tribes whom he had subdued, and the ritual of the Greek church. He 

founded and built upwards of forty churches, besides several schools 

and convents ; but his division of the principality into a number of 

281 



A.D. 1015-1327.] RUSSIAN PRINCIPALITIES. [§ 53. 

petty sovereignties so weakened the monarchy, that it became an easy 
prey to its enemies. 

On the death of Vladimer (1015), Yaroslav took the 
lead among the princes, and, after vanquishing his brother, 
Swiatopelk, prince of Tver, made peace with the celebrated Bo- 
leslas of Poland, who espoused his cause ; he then assumed the 
reins of government, and made himself celebrated as a legislator, 
issuing laws for the regulation of the courts of justice. He 
employed his time in translating Greek books into the Sclavo- 
nian tongue, and founded several schools, and a public college 
at Novgorod, in which 300 students were educated at his sole 
expense. On the death of Yaroslav, civil wars reigned among 
the princes, which were augmented by the interference of the 
Polish sovereigns, who had intermarried with the daughters of 
Yaroslav ; and the princes of Twer and Kiovia (Kiov) — up- 
wards of fifty petty princes, now shared among them the vast 
dominions of Russia, one of whom, the Prince of Kiovia 
(Kiev), took the title of grand duke, and exercised rule over 
all the rest. In 1157, Andrew i., prince of Suzdal, 
fixed his residence at Vladimer, and assumed the title of 
grand duke, and thus a political schism, or separation of the 
kingdom, took place, which proved most disastrous in its 
consequences. The grand duchy of Kiovia (Kiov), with the 
principalities immediately connected with it, gradually with- 
drew from the rest of the empire, and finally became a prey 
to the Lithuanians and the Poles. 

In the midst of these intestine divisions, the Bulgarians, 
Polowzians, and others, made inroads upon the several princi- 
palities ; and these savage tribes were in turn attacked by 
the Mongols (see § 44), under Ghenghis Khan, whose eldest 
son, Toushi, having marched round the Caspian to attack 
the Cumans, or Polovtzi (Polowzians), on the south of the 
principality of Kiovia, fell in with the princes of Kiovia 
in alliance with the Cumans. After a terrible battle, fought 
on the banks of the Kalka (1223), in which six princes 
perished on- the field, besides thousands of the soldiery, the 
whole of Western Russia was laid open to the enemy. The 
furious Mongols pushed on to Novgorod, desolating the whole 
country as they passed through it. The whole of Russia, with 
the exception of Novgorod, was now subject to the Mongols, 
and paid an annual tribute. In 1237, the Mongols again 
attacked the Polovtzi, or Cumans, and the Turkish tribes of 
282 



§ 53.] LIVONIANS, OR LITHUANIANS. [1050-1320 A.D. 

Kaptschak, or Kiptchak, whom they entirely subdued, and then 
proceeded into the northern portions of Eussia, where they 
took Moscow and Eugen, and entirely cut to pieces the Eus- 
sian army, near Kolumna. Several towns were sacked and 
burned, among which were Vladimer, Smolensk, and Pereia- 
slav. In the sack of Vladimer, the whole of the family of the 
grand duke, Yuri n., perished, and the prince himself was 
slain in the terrible battle fought near the river Sita. In 
subsequent years these devastations were continued by Baton, 
the founder of the Mogul dynasty in Kiptchak, the chief 
horde of which was designated the Golden Horde. Baton 
burned Kiov, Kaminec, and Halitch, keeping possession of 
their territories. At length, the renowned Alexander (Nevs- 
koi) appeared, not as a military conqueror over the Mongols 
— although he had subdued the Finns, and vanquished the 
armies of the Swedes, as well as the knights of Livonia, — but 
as a wise and prudent prince, who so commended himself to 
the chief khan of the horde, that he raised him to the dignity 
of grand duke, and thus preserved the kingdom from sinking 
into total ruin (1245). The other princes were even subject to 
the performance of military service, and exposed to the punish- 
ment of death on disobeying the orders of the khan. 

The Livonians, or Lithuanians (heathens of the 
same race as the Prussians), had been subjected to the Eus- 
sians; but taking advantage of their intestine discords, they 
threw off the supremacy, and increased their dominions at the 
expense of their former masters. About the middle of the 
eleventh century they passed their southern boundary, the 
river Wilia, and built the town of Kouem (Kiernow), and 
seized from the Grand Duke of Kiovia and Novgorod, Brac- 
lau, Novgorodek (Grodno), Borgesc, Bielsk, Pinsk, Mozyr, 
Palotsk, Minsk, Witepsk, Orza, and Mscislav, with their 
several dependencies. 

Eingold was the first of the Lithuanian princes who took 
the title of the grand duke; and his successor, Mendog, or 
Mindors, was the first king, the dignity of which was con- 
ferred upon him by the pope on his embracing Christianity, 
which he soon abandoned. Gedimer, his successor, proved an 
invincible warrior, and not only defended himself against the 
combined forces of the Eussians and the Tartars, but made 
extensive conquests, and took possession of the city of Kiova 
(1320), and all its dependencies on this side of the Dnieper. 
283 



A.D. 1320-1481.] RUSSIA DONSKI 1 WAN III. [§ 53. 

Nothing remained therefore of the former Russian empire, 
except the grand duchy of Vladimer, so called from the 
capital town, Vladimer, on the Kliazma, where the grand 
dukes of Eastern and Northern Russia fixed their residence, 
until the beginning of the fourteenth century, when they re- 
moved to Moscow. In 1320, the grand khan presented the 
grand duchy of Moscow to Iwan, prince of Moscow, whose 
grandson, Demetrius, taking advantage of the distracted state 
of the Golden Horde of Kiptchak, turned his arms against 
the Tartars. Having summoned his vassal princes to assist 
him, he marched towards the banks of the Don, where he 
engaged the Tartar khan, and vanquished his army. From 
this victory, Demetrius obtained the name of Donslci. In 
1396, the khans of Kiptchak having invaded the territories 
of Timur, that conqueror advanced from India, and, after 
subduing the grand khan, overrun Kiptchak, and penetrated 
Russia as far as Moscow, which he sacked, massacring the 
inhabitants without mercy. Demetrius was, however, still 
compelled to submit to the grand khan, and even to send his 
son an hostage to the camp of the horde, as a security for his 
future allegiance. Demetrius, and his successors, availing 
themselves of the intestine wars which still raged between the 
Mogul khans, turned their attention to the strengthening of 
the grand duchy of Moscow, and subdued many of the petty 
principalities, while they reunited others, which had, for a 
long period, divided among them the sovereignty of Northern 
Russia. Iwan (John) ni., who succeeded to the grand duchy 
in 1462, conquered the Duke of Novgorod, and annexed his 
territories to the duchy, although, in consequence of its having 
been joined to Lithuania, and connected with the Hanseatic 
towns, as an ally, it had been able, hitherto, to maintain an 
entire independency. Siewiertz (Severia), and a portion of 
White Russia, next fell beneath his arms. In 1480, Iwan 
refused to pay the usual tribute to the grand khan, who, in 
consequence, invaded the Russian principality. But Iwan 
always vigorously repulsed his attacks, and while he himself 
engaged the Tartar armies in Severia, on the banks of the 
Ugra, he despatched a large army into the centre of the 
enemy's territories, which were overrun, and left desolate 
(1481). Iwan was not only successful against the Tartars, 
but also reduced the Bulgarian khan of Kasan, on the 
Kama, and successfully united the combined armies of the 
284 



§ 54.] POLAND. [960-91 A.D. 

Poles and Lithuanians. Having obtained the assistance of the 
Nogai Tartars, partially subject to Lithuania, he accomplished 
the final destruction of the Golden Horde, whose khan was 
taken prisoner: their settlements on the Volga were destroyed, 
and their territories occupied by the Nogais. The Chanate 
was now broken up into a few detached hordes, as those of 
Casan, Astrakhan, Sibir, and Crim, or Krym (Crimea). Iwan 
next attacked the Casan horde, still the most powerful, which 
he partially subjected to his authority, and even frequently 
nominated its khans: it was not, however, entirely subjugated 
until (1552). 

§ 54. 

POLAND. 

The Poles formed a portion of the great Sclavonic nation whose 
boundaries stretched from, the Baltic to the Adriatic, and from the Elbe 
to the Borysthenes. Among the various tribes which occupied this vast 
territory, were the Leches, or the Licicavici, between the Carpathians 
and the Vistula ; the Mazovi, on the other side of the Yistula ; and 
the Poloni, between the Bug and the Dnieper (the tribes which in- 
habited the plain of Polonia — from Polan, a plain), between the Bohe- 
mian Mountains and the Vistula, finally received the name of Poles. 
As a people, or nation, they are of comparatively recent date, no men- 
tion being made of them in history prior to the ninth or, according to 
some, the tenth century. Their chronicles, however, make mention 
of dukes of the name of Leche, from whom it is said the coun- 
try received its name of Lechia, in the sixth century. One of the 
descendants of Leche the Palatin, Cracus, built Cracovia (Cracow), 
and held his government in the city. His daughter, Wen da (from 
Wendes, a Sclavonic tribe north-west of the Leches), who proved an 
Amazonian warrior, after defeating a Grerman prince who wooed her, 
drowned herself in the Vistula ; and thus ended the dynasty. 

Poland was now governed by twelve palatins, who, by their 
constant jealousies, involved the country in anarchy and con- 
fusion. At length they were deposed, and Lesko i. was in- 
vested with the sovereignty. On his death, without issue, 
Lesko il, a man of noble virtue, but of humble origin, was 
elected to the throne, whose descendants occupied it until the 
accession of the P i a s t s , the fifth prince of which house 
(Miecislas) embraced Christianity, and enforced the ob- 
servance of it throughout the whole of his territories. He 
founded two archbishoprics (Gnesna and Cracow), and no less 
than seven bishoprics — Wratislav (Cujavia), Ploesko, Culm, 
Lebuff, Caminetz, Posnan (Posen), and Szmorgrov (Smogra). 
285 



A.D. 991-1036.] POLAND— -MIECISL AS. [§ 54. 

In 973, lie was compelled, with the other princes who had 
espoused the cause of Henry of Bavaria, to submit to and 
acknowledge the supremacy of the emperor (Otho n.). At 
the close of the eleventh century (991), he made an expedition 
into the country of the Bohemians, of the same race as the 
Poles. Miecislas prevailed, but it gave rise to an enmity 
between the two nations which has never been extinguished. 
In 999, Miecislas expired, bequeathing the duchy to his son, 
Boleslas (the Lion-hearted). On the visit of Otho ni. to 
the shrine of St. Adalbert, the duchy was elevated into a 
kingdom, and Boleslas was anointed by the Archbishop of 
G-neszna, and crowned by the emperor, whose . daughter, 
Eixas, became the wife of Boleslas. After a severe conflict, 
the most inveterate enemies of Boleslas, the Bohemians, were 
conquered, and Ulric, the younger son of the Bohemian king, 
placed upon the throne, to the exclusion of the elder. This 
act, in connexion with his successes against the Pomeranians, 
whom he rendered tributary, excited the jealousy of the em- 
peror, Henry of Bavaria, who drove Boleslas out of Bohemia, 
and, having dethroned Ulric, continued the war until the peace 
of Bautzen (1018), when the 'marches of Lusatia and Budissin 
were allowed to remain in the hands of Boleslas, as fiefs of the 
empire. Ulric regained the throne, as the vassal of Henry; 
and thus both were strengthened, and better able to resist the 
valour of the Polish monarch. The arms of Boleslas, who 
had triumphed over the Saxons, the Moravians, and the 
Pomeranians, were, until nearly the close of his reign, en- 
gaged against the Russians, under their great leader, Yaroslav. 
They were, at length, terrified by his repeated victories, and 
acknowledged his supremacy. In 1025, Boleslas, who may 
be regarded as the founder of the Polish monarchy, died, 
after a reign of thirty years, leaving the kingdom to his son, 
Miecislas n., a voluptuous and feeble prince, whose cowardice 
and ease the Bohemians and others, whom his father, for a 
time, had rendered tributary, took advantage of, and revolted. 
He died of madness, arising from an enfeebled mind, in 
1034, leaving his country in a wretched state of discontent. 
Miecislas was not, however, quite indifferent to the interests of 
his kingdom, for, during his reign, resident judges were ap- 
pointed in the several palatins, to try the causes which might 
arise within their several jurisdictions. On his death (1034), 
an Interregnum, of seven years' duration, succeeded^ 
286 



§ 54] POLAND — CASIMIR. [1036-76 A.D. 

during which the most powerful of the nobles contended for the 
regal dignity, and thousands perished in the struggles which 
ensued. Each governor ruled as a petty sovereign within his 
own jurisdiction, and maintained an exterminating war the 
one against the other. One of the nobles (Mazos) seized the 
territory lying between the Wieschel, the Narew, and the 
Boug (Silesia, Pomerania, and Mazovia), and raised it into 
a sort of principality, termed, from him, the duchy of Ma- 
zovia, — and was nearly the only state not desolated by the 
peasantry, who turned their arms upon the nobility, and 
plundered all the cities and towns to which they could gain 
access. The old enemy of Poland, Bohemia, seized Breslau, 
Posnania (Posen), and Gnezna (Gnesen), and the Eussians, 
who rendered Eastern Poland a desert, seized as much plunder 
as could be carried away, while the prisoners, who in num- 
ber exceeded that of their own army, were sold as slaves. 
Yaroslav would have annexed the Polish crown to that of 
Eussia, but the Tartars had arrived on the confines of his 
own territory, and he was compelled to return to his duchy. 
At length the Poles, reduced almost to despair, resolved to 
seek the son of the late king (Miecislas), who had been con- 
veyed out of the kingdom by the queen Eixas, on the death of 
her husband. He was discovered in the abbey of Clugni, and, 
on being released from his monastic vows by the pope, he 
acceded to the wishes of the nobles, and hastened to take 
possession of his regal rights. Casimir proved the restorer 
of Poland. His chief antagonist was the rebel Mazos, who 
had held the high office of cup-bearer to his father, Miecislas. 
Having made friends with the Eussian duke, Yaroslav, Casi- 
mir engaged the heathen Prussians to drive Mazos out of 
Silesia and Pomerania. After many trifling engagements, the 
two armies met on the banks of the Vistula, where the rebel 
was defeated, and his army annihilated, 15,000 of them being 
left dead on the field. Pomerania was again rendered tribu- 
tary, and Silesia surrendered, as also did the heathen Prus- 
sians. After reigning seventeen years, he died, to the great 
grief of his people, leaving the crown to his son, the great 
Boleslas il, who, first of all, engaged the Bohemians, on behalf 
of their expelled sovereign, Jaromir; and then the Hunga- 
rians, in favour of Bela, driven out of the kingdom by his 
brother Andrew. Against both, Boleslas was successful. He 
now turned his arms against the Eussians, to recover the long- 
287 



A.D. 1076-1129.] POLAND ULADISLAS I., IL [§ 54. 

lost territories of Poland. Kiov fell, and the Russian prince 
fled. Prezemsyl, the ancient dependency of Poland, was also 
restored. The seven years' absence of the monarch in Russia, 
where he had given the full rein to his lusts, and the cruelty 
which he evinced towards his subjects on his return, totally 
alienated them from him. At length, his brutal excesses led 
to his being excommunicated by the church. The murder of 
the prelate Stanislaus, who had dared to pronounce the sen- 
tence, followed, and Boleslas was compelled to abandon his 
kingdom, and flee (to Hungary ?), probably taking refuge and 
ending his days in a convent. The throne of Poland remained 
unoccupied, after the flight of Boleslas and his son, for nearly 
a year, when the nobles, on the invasion of the kingdom by 
the Russians and Hungarians, elected Uladislas, the son 
of Casimir, to the dignity of duke, that of king remaining in 
abeyance for upwards of 200 years (from 1079 to 1295). 
The Russians regained their territories lost to Boleslas n., but 
Prussia and Pomerania revolting, were, after a series of san- 
guinary engagements, compelled to submit. The reign of 
Uladislas was chiefly occupied in resisting the unjust preten- 
sions of his illegitimate son Sbigniew, assisted by the Prus- 
sians ; and the Bohemians, who overrun Silesia. On his 
death, Boleslas in. succeeded to the duchy, when he was 
opposed by Sbigniew, who stirred up the Pomeranians, who, 
however, after the fall of Belgond, were compelled to sue for 
peace. The rebel prince Sbigniew, shortly after, was again 
defeated, and the chief towns of his duchy subdued; Mazovia 
alone remained to him. In 1110, he fell the victim of an 
assassin. Boleslas, after triumphing over the Bohemians, the 
Pomeranians, and the Hungarians, as likewise over the Rus- 
sians of the north, in forty-seven pitched battles, before the 
close of his reign, suffered a sad reverse. On meeting the 
Russian and Hungarian army on the banks of the Dniester, 
the Count of Cracow withdrew from the support of the duke, 
who lost nearly the whole of his army, and was compelled to 
seek refuge by flight. In 1129, he died, having divided his 
duchy between his four sons, which tended to increase the 
dissensions of the rival princes, and to hasten the decline of the 
once powerful monarchy. Uladislas n., who succeeded, had 
Cracow and Silesia, Sierads and Pomerania; Boleslas received 
Mazovia and Kujavia, with Dobreczyn and Culm; Miecislas, 
Gnesen, Posen, and Halitz ; and Henry, Lublin and Sandomiers ; 
288 



§ 54.] POLAND BOLESLAS IV., CASDtER n. [1146-94 A.D. 

Casinier, tlie youngest was excluded. Boleslas exacted heavy 
contributions from his brothers, with which he procured 
Eussian mercenaries, to aid him in dispossessing them of their 
appanages, which were soon reduced. The palatine of San- 
domiers, however, raised an army in favour of the princes 
against the duke, whom he defeated, and compelled to flee 
to Cracow, which being invested, Boleslas evacuated the 
city, and afterwards renounced his dignity, and hastened into 
Germany. Boleslas iv., one of the remaining princes, 
was now elected (1146), and to secure the support of his 
brothers, enlarged their dominions. But Germany opposed 
him. The emperor Barbarossa, espousing the cause of Ula- 
dislas, who had married a German princess, marched his 
army into Silesia, where the Poles so harassed the troops 
in the rear, and cut off their supplies, that they were glad 
to make peace. Silesia was,, however, ceded to the de- 
throned Uladislas, but before he could take possession, he 
died, when it was divided among his three sons. Boleslas 
now advanced against the Prussians, who had relapsed into 
heathenism; but, being entangled by the movements of the 
enemy in a marshy country, his army was cut to pieces, and 
his brother Henry, with many of the nobility, slain. San- 
domiers and Lublin now devolved upon Casimer, while Bo- 
leslas died of a broken heart in 1174, leaving his appanage 
to his son Lesko, and the throne to Miecislas in., whose 
avarice and cruelty so disgusted his subjects that they con- 
spired against him, and elected his brother, Casimer il, 
in his place, before he could muster an army in his defence. 
Casimer enacted several laws for the good of his subjects, and 
procured from the pope the revocation of the law of Boleslas 
in., concerning the succession, which was now rendered here- 
ditary in the descendants of the reigning duke, and also ex- 
tended to the appanages of the other princes, which passed in 
succession to their heirs, and thus created five hereditary, and 
almost independent, governments in the kingdom. Miecislas, 
the expelled duke, at the head of the disaffected Pomeranians, 
endeavoured to regain his kingdom, and took advantage of the 
absence of Boleslas in Russia to seize the territory of Great 
Poland, and also to obtain the government of Masovia and 
Cujavia. Persuading the people that the grand duke had died 
in his expedition, he procured the supreme authority, and 
proceeded to exercise it, when the return of Casimer dispelled 
289 o 



A. D. 1194-1246.] POLAITO-LESKO, ULADISLAS III., BOLESLAS V. [§54. 

the illusion, and broke up the rebellion. He released all the 
prisoners, and died soon after, justly lamented by his subjects 
(1194). During his reign he founded and endowed numerous 
churches and convents, and got up a crusade against Saladin. 
Of the two sons left by Casimer, Lesko was chosen, under 
the regency of his mother (Helen). The ex-grand duke, 
Miecislas, disappointed of the administration, persuaded the 
credulous mother to induce the prince to abdicate, and pro- 
mised her the palatinate of Cujavia, and the investiture of the 
crown for her son, both of which, on his assumption of the 
dignity, he refused. Death, however, soon took from him the 
kingdom which he had usurped, when, to the astonishment of 
Lesko and his mother, Uladislas in., son of Miecislas, 
was elected to the vacant dignity. Lesko, however, acquiesced 
in the decision of the nobles, and undertook the command of 
the army against the Russians, over whom he obtained a signal 
victory, and the possession of Halitz. This served to raise 
him in the estimation of the people, who, admiring the valour 
of Lesko, restored him to the ducal dignity, when Uladislas 
gladly retired from an unsettled throne into privacy. Lesko 
was soon involved in numerous wars : with the Russians who 
again seized Halitz, the Prussians, who ravaged Mazovia 
and Cujavia, and Swantopelk, the rebel governor of Pome- 
rania, who waylaid the grand duke with an armed band of 
ruffians, and assassinated him while bathing with Henry of 
Silesia (1227). Boleslas v. succeeded, at the early age of 
seven years, and a struggle for the regency commenced the 
reign. After tAvo sanguinary battles, in which Conrad, the 
uncle of the prince, prevailed over Henry, duke of Breslau, 
the former assumed the guardianship. In 1229, an irruption 
of the heathen Prussians took place ; they penetrated into the 
very heart of Poland, massacring the inhabitants, and destroy- 
ing, with fire and sword, all the countries they traversed. To 
resist these idolaters, the regent, Conrad, had recourse to the 
Teutonic knights for assistance. The Prussians were driven 
out of Poland, and the fortress of Dobrzyn, with the terri- 
tories of Culm, and those lying between the Vistula and the 
Dwentza, were ceded to the knights as a reward. Boleslas, 
perceiving that his uncle, the regent, aimed not only at the 
ducal throne, but also at his life, contrived to escape from 
his close confinement to Duke Henry, who levied an army 
against the regent, and compelled him to yield, when Henry 
290 



§ 54.] POLAND-BOLESLAS V., LESKO THE BLACK. [1246-88 A.D. 

assumed the regency. He enjoyed his dignity, however, but 
for a short time : he soon after expired, and Conrad was again 
at the helm of affairs. The young duke, Boleslas, to strengthen 
himself, was united to the daughter of the King of Hungary 
(1246). Poland was now overrun by the formidable Mongols, 
who, under their great khan, Ghenghis, had devastated and 
subdued Russia. Towns and cities were sacked and burned; 
Silesia and Hungary were desolated ; and all the countries of 
the West trembled at the approach of the enemy. They at 
length suddenly broke up their encampments, and retraced their 
steps towards the East (see pages 212-13). Boleslas, with 
many thousands of his terrified subjects, had fled for safety 
into Moravia ; and before his return to Poland, the nobles had 
elected another duke. The regent, Conrad, indignant at being 
passed over, again plunged the nation in a civil w ar. Boleslas 
was recalled, and, although at first victorious, was after- 
wards defeated, and would have lost his throne, had not 
death terminated the ambitious career of the regent. Eastern 
Pomerania, Culm, and Cujavia were now devastated by the 
rebel Swantopelk, the murderer of Lesko; and Poland was 
again overrun by the Mongols, who exceeded, if possible, 
their former excesses. Boleslas retired to Hungary until 
their departure, and employed his arms against the Pod- 
lachians, or Jadvingi, a tribe of savage warriors on the 
borders of Poloniae and Mazovia, ever open to their pre- 
datory incursions. Boleslas entirely subdued them, while 
his general, the Count Palatine of Cracow, overthrew the 
Russians, and followed them into their own territories. Lesko 
died, 1279, and was followed by his son Lesko (the Black), 
duke of Sieradz and Cujavia, who, soon after his succession, 
had to contend against the rebellious prelate of Cracow, who 
set up a rival duke in opposition. The prelate was defeated, 
and sought an alliance with the heathen Lithuanians, who 
overran Eastern Poland before their progress could be ar- 
rested. At length they were compelled to yield, and the 
rebellious prelate was imprisoned. The latter, however, soon 
contrived to escape, and, having joined some of the jealous 
and discontented nobles, once more attempted to dethrone the 
duke. Lesko attacked and defeated one section of the rebels 
on the banks of the Raba, and then proceeded to relieve 
Cracow, which had been invested. On the approach of the 
duke, the rebels raised the siege and departed. Lesko was 
291 2 



A.D. 1290-1300.] POLAND MONARCHY RESTORED. [§ 54. 

equally successful against the Russians, who, instigated by his 
enemies, broke in upon the frontier provinces of the kingdom. 
On the third great invasion of Eussia and Poland by the 
Mongols, however, Lesko made no efforts to resist them, but 
fled to Hungary, leaving his provinces to be pillaged and 
burned. This proceeding so exasperated his subjects, that, 
after the Mongols had retired into Asia, they elected another 
duke in his room. Lesko, on his return, died of a broken 
heart, 1290; and, leaving no heir to succeed him, nearly 
all the princes of the kingdom aspired to the vacant dignity. 
Boleslas, the duke of Mazovia, was first invested with it, but 
soon compelled to resign it to the powerful Duke of Breslau, 
who was dispossessed of it by the brother of Lesko, Uladislas. 
Henry, however, soon wrested it out of his hands, and go- 
verned until his death, when Wenceslas, the king of Bohe- 
mia, preferred his claim to the grand dukedom, grounding 
it upon a forged (?) will of the widow of Lesko the Black. 
Uladislas resisted the Bohemian king, and defeated his army. 
Wenceslas now obtained the assistance of the Lithuanians, 
who availed themselves of the internal state of the kingdom 
to plunder the provinces. Wenceslas, although he obtained 
some successes, saw that there was but little chance of 
finally succeeding, and therefore withdrew, to prepare for 
the reception of the Tartar Mongols, now, for the fourth 
time, invading the countries of the West. Poland was now, 
as a kingdom, on the eve of being blotted out from the 
list. The Tartars, having overrun Russia, entered the king- 
dom, and destroyed, with fire and sword, the country which 
they passed through. The King of Bohemia endeavoured to 
add to his territories, at the expense of the Duke of Silesia, 
while the heathen Prussians and Pomeranians broke in upon 
Cujavia and Mazovia. At this juncture of affairs, the nobles 
agreed to sacrifice their individual interests and ambition, and, 
without consulting the pope, to elect a sovereign. Accordingly, 
the Duke of Great Poland, and Eastern Pomerania, also heir of 
Cracow and Sandomiers, Prezemislas, was raised to the 
dignity of 

1. King of Poland, the coronation being performed at 
Gnesna by the archbishop. The government now became 
settled, and peace was established with the restless Pomera- 
nians, and Danzyk was strongly fortified. In 1296, the king 
was assassinated by his cousin, the Margrave of Anhalt. Ula- 
292 



§54.] P0LAND-WENCE3LAS-ULADISLASIV., ETC. [1300-49 A.D. 

dislas was now elected, but was soon deposed, on account of 
his oppressive and tyrannical conduct, and Wenceslas, the 
king of Bohemia, was proclaimed in his stead (1300), who, to 
strengthen himself in his new kingdom, married the daughter 
of Prezemislas. The Polish castles were garrisoned with Bohe- 
mian soldiers, and the officers of state were selected from the 
Bohemian nobility. Wenceslas proceeded also to strip Ula- 
dislas of his possessions, and force him into exile : the 
latter found shelter in the Hungarian dominions. In 1306, 
Uladislas returned, assisted by the Duke of Transylvania, with 
troops; and after gaining a few victories, the death of the 
Bohemian Wenceslas put him once more in the possession of 
the kingdom. Uladislas iv. did not, however, assume the title 
of King of Poland until 1320, when he was acknowledged by 
Great Poland, under papal sanction. From this period, the 
royal dignity was permanently established, and transmitted to 
the descendants of Uladislas. The reign of Uladislas was a 
series of struggles against the Teutonic knights, who drove 
out the Poles from Danzyk, and seized Pomerania. They 
were, at length, defeated by treachery, and 20,000 of them 
were massacred on the field of battle. They, however, re- 
tained Pomerania, and several other possessions, in spite of 
the king. Silesia was also left in the hands of their ally, the 
King of Bohemia. On the invasion of the Mongols, Lithuania 
had become an independent state. To unite this formidable 
duchy in friendship and alliance with the Polish kingdom, 
Uladislas obtained the hand of the pagan prince's daughter in 
marriage, and, with her, the redemption of upwards of 24,000 
captives, who were restored to their kindred and country. 
Uladislas died in 1333, leaving the kingdom to his son, 
Casimer m. (the Great). On his succession, Cujavia 
and Dobrzyn were restored to Poland by the Teutonic knights, 
who received the territories of Culm, Michalow, and Pome- 
rania. Casimer also gained, by conquest (1340), the country 
of Red Russia, besides Volhynia and Podolia, and the pala- 
tinates of Brescia, Chelm, and Belz, from the Grand Duke of 
Lithuania (1349). 

Casimer was pre-eminently a man of peace, and exerted himself to 
lessen the evils under which his kingdom groaned. He rid the country 
of the predatory bands which plundered the merchants and the peasantry 
with impunity, and framed a body of laws, of universal application, 
which was comprised in two treatises; the one for the Greater, the 
293 



A.D. 1349-86.] POLAND — CASIMER THE GREAT. [§ 54. 

other for the Lesser Poland. In these laws, the property of the peasant, 
no less than that of the nohle, was secured to him. The serfs and pea- 
sants were protected ; the masters no longer held the power of life and 
death ; both were amenable to the same tribunals. Casimer was also 
the great patron of the industrial arts, and encouraged the immigration 
of artizans from all parts of Germany, who introduced into Poland the 
useful arts of life, and the business of commerce. Towns were fortified 
by him ; edifices of wood were replaced by those of stone and brick ; 
schools, hospitals, churches, and convents were built by him without 
number. A Teutonic tribunal, or supreme court of justice, was estab- 
lished at Cracow, whose jurisdiction extended over other cities and 
towns ; and to encourage the teaching of the higher branches of learn- 
ing, a university was also erected in the city. In consequence of the 
benefits he conferred upon the burghers and the peasants, he received 
the title of the Peasant King. 

2. Poland and Hungary united, 1370 — 1382. 
Casimer closed his career in 1370, and was the last of the 

ancient race of the Piasts. He was succeeded by his sister's 
son, Lewis (the Great), king of Hungary, in opposition to the 
Piast dynasty, who reigned as dukes in Mazovia and Silesia. 
Lewis, destitute of sympathy for his new subjects, whose lan- 
guage even he could not speak, left the kingdom in the hands 
of his mother, as regent, and retired to Hungary, but was 
soon compelled to return, in consequence of an outbreak be- 
tween his Polish and Hungarian subjects, when, after much 
difficulty, he procured the election of his daughter, Maria, to 
the throne, as his successor, and appointed a new regent in 
the Duke of Oppelen, whom the Poles, on the departure of 
Lewis, refused to obey. The regency was now placed in the 
hands of three of the Polish nobility, whose government 
proved anything but beneficial to the nation. Lewis died 
in 1382. The nation was now involved in a ruinous civil 
war. Maria, whose succession to the throne was sanctioned 
in the lifetime of Lewis, was rejected. Among the many 
claimants, Hedwig, the beautiful daughter of Lewis, was 
selected, on condition of marrying any of the princes whom 
her subjects might select. 

3. Poland and Lithuania under the House 
of Jagello, 1386—1572. 

Jagello, the son of the Duke of Lithuania, was the object 
of the nation's choice, who consented not only to renounce 
Paganism himself, but to introduce Christianity into his here- 
ditary dominions, and to annex them to the crown of Poland. 
Jagello (1386) was baptized under the name of Uladis- 
294 



§ 54.] POLAND — ULADISLAS IV., CASIMER IV. [1386-1492 A.D. 

las, and, on his elevation, assembled a diet at Wilna, and 
declared that idolatry should be extirpated. He laboured 
with the priests among his people, to instruct them in the 
doctrines and duties of Christianity, and founded a bishopric 
at Wilna, and several churches in the cities and towns of 
Lithuania, the government of which was entrusted to his bro- 
thers, who were constantly engaged in struggles with Uladislas 
for the dismemberment of the duchy. In 1409, Uladislas 
obtained a decisive victory over the Teutonic knights, be- 
tween Tanneberg and Grunnervaldt, of whom 50,000 perished. 
They, however, supported by the German emperor (Sigis- 
mund), and the governor of Lithuania, continued to harass 
the king, and compelled him several times to pay large ran- 
soms as the price of peace. On the death of Hedwig, the king 
vacated the kingdom, and retired to Russia, but soon after, 
on the solicitations of his subjects, returned. In 1434, he 
breathed his last, and his son, Uladislas v., a minor, was 
raised to the throne. During his minority, the Lithuanians, 
the Eussians, and the Teutonic knights, continued to harass 
the frontiers ; the inroads of the Turks, however, put a stop, 
for a season, to the aggressions of the former. On the death 
of Albert, king of Bohemia and Hungary, Uladislas was in- 
duced to accept the sovereignty of those kingdoms, which he 
was soon called upon to defend against the Turks, who had 
overrun Transylvania. Uladislas, with his Poles and Hun- 
garians, crossed the Danube, and slew 30,000 Moslems in one 
pitched battle. Servia was restored, and the sultan, Amurath, 
was glad to conclude a peace, which, however, the sovereigns 
of Europe, backed by the papal legate, induced Uladislas to 
break, and to proceed once more against the sultan. They met 
near Varna; the Turks were victorious, and Uladislas, having 
penetrated to the very body guard of the sultan, the Janiza- 
ries, after having performed surprising deeds of valour, died by 
the side of the legate, covered with wounds (1444). Casi- 
m e r I v . , his brother, was elected to the throne, a prince too 
partial to the Lithuanians to attend much to the welfare of his 
Polish subjects. During his reign, the Prussians incorporated 
themselves with Poland, the better to enable them to throw 
off their allegiance to the Teutonic knights. This led to a 
sanguinary war between them and the Poles, which ended in 
a peace which secured Western Prussia, Pomerania, Culm, 
Malburg, the fortress of Danzyk, with Marienberg, Thorn, 
295 



a.d. 1226-1343.] Prussia. [§ 54. 

etc., to Poland, while Eastern Prussia was to be held by the 
knights as a fief of the crown. In 1492, Casirner iv. died, 
and John (Albert) I., agreeably to his wishes, was elected to 
the vacant throne, while Alexander was appointed to the 
duchy of Lithuania. 

Under this feeble monarch (Casirner iv.) the aristocracy obtained a 
complete ascendancy over both monarch and people. The diet, which 
had formerly consisted of individual nobles, summoned according to 
the king's command, was enlarged, and the number of voters extended. 
Every noble now claimed to be present, either personally or by proxy, 
and deputies were appointed to represent them, while the pala- 
tinates and districts also sent each of them two representatives. These, 
at length, assumed all the functions of the state, and rendered the 
senate powerless. The king was treated with indifference, while the 
rights and privileges of the peasants and serfs were trampled under 
foot. 

PEUSSIA. 

Prussia is totally unknown in history before the end of the 
tenth century, when Otho in., who wrote the life of St. Adel- 
bert of Prague, mentions the people on the coast from the 
Vistula to the Meuse, under the name of Prussians. They 
were a haughty, independent, idolatrous people, and fought 
desperately in the defence of their religion against the Christian 
crusaders. All attempts to proselyte them by force failed, 
although their territories were overrun with fire and sword. 
At length the Prussians became the aggressors, and took 
revenge upon the Poles for having assisted their enemies 
against them. The Duke of Mazovia, in his distress, en- 
treated the assistance of the Teutonic knights, promising them 
the territories they should conquer, and that of Culm (1226). 
By degrees the knights, after a long and murderous war 
against the idolatrous natives, possessed themselves of nearly 
the whole of Prussia, when they constructed cities and forts, 
and founded several bishoprics and convents. Konigsberg was 
built, 1255, and their chief residence, Marienberg, the capital 
of their order, in 1280. In 1283, the reduction of Sudavia, 
the last of the territorial possessions of the Prussians, took 
place, which concluded the obstinate struggle. The knights 
now turned their victorious arms against one of their allies, 
the Poles, and seized the fort of Danzyk, and the eastern por- 
tion of Pomerania (Danzyk), which was eventually ceded to 
them by the treaty of Kalitz (1343), with the territory of 
Culm and Michelau. Danzyk was now the residence of 
296 



§ 54.] PRUSSIA-TEUTONIC AND LIVONIAN KNIGHTS. [1404-66 A.D. 

their grand master, and became one of the chief emporiums of 
commerce on the Baltic. The knights having been successful 
against the heathen Prussians on the shores of the Baltic, now, 
under the pretext of converting them to Christianity, attacked 
the heathen Lithuanians. After a severe conflict, they were 
obliged to desist, having only been able to procure the tftritory 
of Samogitia, which was secured by the peace of Racianz 
(1404). They were now joined by the Knights of Livonia, 
who had purchased Esthonia of the Danish king, Yaldemar iv. 
Their possessions now embraced a territory which compre- 
hended the whole coast of the Baltic from Danzyk to Narva, 
including the islands of Gottland, Oesel, Dagoe, etc. These 
attained the zenith of their greatness under their grand master, 
Winric von Kinprode (1351 — 1382), and had a flourishing 
commerce, and a well-regulated treasury. The order having 
obtained from the Emperor Sigismund the Neumark territory, 
on the north of Poland, the jealousy of that power was excited. 
The junction of Poland with Lithuania, and the embracing of 
Christianity by the latter, tended considerably to hasten their 
downfall, and to shatter their power. This received a severe 
blow when, at Tanneberg (1410), they were utterly defeated 
by the Poles, and Marienberg itself threatened. In 1416, the 
power of the grand master was restricted ; a council of the 
country was established, consisting of ten nobles and ten 
representatives of towns. Afterwards, it embraced six rulers 
of the order, six ecclesiastical, and six lay nobles, with six 
burgesses, appointed by the grand master, who met them 
every year in council at Marienberg, where they deliberated 
on the affairs of the country. The Lithuanians regained 
(between 1411 — 36) Samogitia and Sudavia, but the oppres- 
sive government of the knights, and their internal dissensions, 
induced the Prussians and Pomeranians to form a confederacy 
with Poland for their complete annihilation. The war which 
ensued was not terminated till 1466, when what is now Polish 
Prussia was ceded to Poland, and the other portion, or Prussia 
proper, was to be retained by the master of the order, as a fief, 
and the chief residence to be transferred to Konigsberg, where 
it continued until the knights were finally deprived of their 
possessions by the house of Brandenberg. 



297 o3 



A.D. 892-984.] THE MAGYARS OR HUNGARIANS. [§ 55. 

§ 55. 
HtmaAKY. 

1. Under the Arpads, 889?— 1301. 

'The' H ungarians were probably of Finnish or Turkish 
origin — perhaps a mixture of both, and emigrated, as is gener- 
ally supposed, from Baschiria, a country stretching north and 
south from the source of the Tobol to the Jaik. They had 
located, under the name of the Agri, or Ogurs, considerably 
farther north, in Jugriea, between the Irtisch and Petschora 
rivers ; but towards the close of the ninth century, they broke 
up their dwellings, and came down south, where they met with 
the Magyars. After having been long dependent upon the 
Turkish Chazars north of the Palus Mseotis (Sea of Azov), they 
proceeded towards the Danube, in order to escape the Cumans, 
or Patzinacites. Under their leader, Arpad, they crossed the 
eastern Carpathians, and took possession of the land between 
those mountains and the Save. In 892, Arnulph, the king of 
the Germans, employed the Hungarians against the Slavo- 
Moravians, who, under their king, Zwentibold, attacked the 
territories of Arnulph in Germany. While engaged in this 
expedition, their possessions in Transylvania and Dacia were 
attacked by the Patzinacites, who succeeded in driving them 
out. The Hungarians, now hemmed in between the Mora- 
vians and their enemies, attacked the former, and, on the death 
of their king, Zwentibold, took possession of all the Moravian 
territories lying between the- Danube and the Carpathian Moun- 
tains, stretching west and east from Vienna to the Aluta river. 
About the same period also, they conquered Pannonia, and a 
part of Noricum, and thus laid the foundation of a new state, 
since known as the kingdom of Hungary. No sooner had 
they fixed themselves in their Pannonian possessions, than 
they formed plundering hordes, or bands, and proceeded, well 
armed, on horseback, to devastate the principal kingdoms of 
Europe. Germany, Italy, and Gaul, in consequence of in- 
ternal dissensions, became an easy prey, nor did the eastern 
empire cease to experience the fatal effects of their ravages 
and devastations. At length, their career was stayed; Henry I., 
and Otho I., after a series of sanguinary engagements, beat 
them back, and delivered Europe from their savage incursions. 

The first of the Slavian princes who took the title of king, 



§ 55.] KINGDOM OF HUNGARY. [984-1241 A.D. 

was Dircislaus (984), and his successor, Demetrius Swimmer, 
did homage to the papal see, and received its protection. In 
1080, Ladislaus, whose sister had been married to Swinimer, 
possessed himself of Surmium, and, some time after, took 
advantage of the turbulent state of Croatia to sieze the Upper 
Slavonia, and other parts of that kingdom (1091). Colomon 
effected its final conquest in 1102, and was crowned, at Bel- 
grade, King of Croatia and Dalmatia. These conquests in 
Dalmatia brought the Hungarians in collision with the Vene- 
tians, who held several valuable possessions on the coast of 
the Adriatic, and embroiled them in a series of wars, which 
did not terminate until the fifteenth century. Spalatro, Trau, 
Zara, etc., fell to the Hungarians, and the kingdom of Rama, 
or Boson (Bosnia), when Coloman took the title of King of 
Rama (1108). His successor bestowed the title on his son, 
Ladislaus, and thus paved the way for the introduction of 
those civil wars which, in later times, took place between the 
rival princes. In 1142, to encourage the cultivation of the 
soil, and to extend the blessings of Christianity, Geysa n. in- 
vited into Hungary, from the Netherlands, Flanders, and 
Saxony, vast numbers of Germans, as colonists, to whom he 
gave large privileges. They took up their position in Tran- 
sylvania (1142), and shared in the extended privileges of the 
new constitution, which was obtained in the following reign. 
Andrew n., on his return from the Holy Land (see page 158), 
discovered his kingdom to be in a state of disorder and con- 
fusion, arising out of the conduct of the nobles, and. others, 
who had usurped the estates and revenues of the crown, and 
allowed all the streams of justice to become polluted. Andrew 
convoked a general diet (1222), and procured the passing of 
the celebrated decree termed the Golden Bull, which 
formed the basis of that constitution which existed down to 
the most recent period (1849). Hungary was, more than 
almost any other European nation, subject to the inroads of 
the Turks. Under Bela iv. (1241), when Hungary was sunk 
in indolent ease and security, the celebrated Batou Khan 
inundated the whole country; and when they assembled 
under their king, and met the Turks on the banks of the Sajo, 
they were cut to pieces, and the king's brother, Coloman, 
slain. Bela fled to the Dalmatian Isles, and left his kingdom 
to the mercy of his enemies, who overran the provinces of 
Slavonia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Servia, Croatia, and Dalmatia, 
299 



A.D. 1301-1438.] KINGDOM OF HUNGARY. [§ 55. 

destroying the inhabitants, and pillaging and burning the 
cities and towns. On their retreat, after a stay of from be- 
tween two and three years, Bela reassembled his subjects, 
who were wandering in the forests, or hidden in the moun- 
tains ; and to people the towns and cities which were 
rebuilt, he procured new colonists from Saxony, Bohemia, 
Moravia, and Croatia, and thus restored the kingdom again to 
comparative vigour and prosperity. In 1301, the descendants 
of the house of A r jd a d became extinct in Andrew in., 
and the crown was then contested by several princes; at 
length it fell to 

2. The House of Anjou (the reigning family in Na- 
ples, 1308 — 1382), which gave to the kingdom, in Charles 
Robert (great-grandson of Stephen v.), and his son, Louis, the 
two great kings whose wise and vigorous government raised 
Hungary to a state of exaltation and prosperity. Louis n. 
conquered from the Venetians the whole of Dalmatia, from 
the frontiers of Istria to Durazzo : he rendered tributary the 
princes of Moldavia and Wallachia, the kings of Bulgaria and 
Bosnia, and, on the death of his uncle, Casimer the Great, 
ascended the throne of Poland, when Maria, his eldest daugh- 
ter, succeeded him on the throne of Hungary (1382), and Red 
Russia became annexed to that kingdom, in lieu of Silesia. 
Shortly after her accession, Maria espoused Sigismund, of 

3. The house of Luxembourg (1387— 1437), and 
Hungary became united to the empire. The reign of Sigis- 
mund was distracted and unfortunate. In connection with 
his ally, the Greek emperor at Constantinople, he assem- 
bled a large army, and undertook the siege of Nicopolis, 
where he was completely routed by the Turks, and put to 
night, with the loss of Bulgaria. This disaster led his sub- 
jects to elect another sovereign in his room, and Ladislaus, 
the king of Naples, was chosen, who surrendered the duchy of 
Dalmatia to the Venetians. Sigismund, on his return, ob- 
tained, by a treaty with the Prince of Servia, the strong 
fortress of Belgrade, which, as it was situated at the con- 
fluence of the Danube and the Save, proved a formidable 
bulwark for the protection of the Hungarian dominions. He 
left the crown to his son-in-law, 

4. Albert, of the house of Austria (1438-9), who, 
having reigned a year and a half, died on his return from a 
campaign against the Turks, who had invaded Transylvania. 

300 



§ 55.] KINGDOM OF HUNGARY. [1439-90 A.D. 

After his death, his consort, Elizabeth, gave birth to a son, at 
the castle of Comorn, who received the name of Ladislans the 
Posthumous. The crown and daughter of the widow of Albert 
were offered to the Polish king, who, proud of being consti- 
tuted the bulwark of Christendom, accepted it. Uladislas 
of Poland maintained a glorious contest against the Turks, 
and compelled them to sue for peace. He subsequently fell 
before Varna, covered with military glory, when L a d i s - 
la us the Posthumous succeeded to the throne of his 
ancestor. Albert, and the wise and brave Hunniades under- 
took the administration of affairs during his minority. He was 
several times victorious over the Turks, and, in 1456, com- 
pelled Mohamet n. to raise, the siege of Belgrade, with the loss 
of 25,000 Moslems, and himself severely wounded. Hunniades 
died a few days after, and in the following year, Ladislaus died 
also, when Hungary was separated from Austria by the elec- 
tion of 

5. A native prince (1457 — 1490), Matthias Cor- 
v i n u s , the son of the brave John Hunniades, who was the 
terror of the Turks during the whole of his reign. He re- 
covered Bosnia, Transylvania, and all the other dependencies 
of Hungary south of the Danube, out of the hands of the 
Turks, and Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia, from Bohemia. 
He likewise took Austria from his opponent, the Emperor 
Frederick in., and fixed his residence at Vienna (1485), where 
he ruled over the country under the Ens, whilst Austria main- 
tained possession of the territories over the Ens. Matthias 
closed his brilliant career in the city of Vienna (1490), having 
reigned gloriously for his country thirty-three years. 

Pope Pius ii., having been engaged in the Compactes (agreements) of 
the council of Basel, endeavoured to reunite the Hussites with the 
Roman church ; and his successor, Paul II., engaged Matthias Cor-< 
vinus, by promising him the Bohemian crown, to assist him in that 
enterprise : hence a devastating war ensued between the Hungarians 
and the Bohemians, in which the Emperor Frederick in. took the part 
of the Bohemians. The Hungarians therefore invaded the Austrian 
possessions of Frederick, which they overrun, compelling the inhabi- 
tants to take the oath of allegiance to their king. These were, on peace 
being concluded, subsequently restored to the emperor at a great sacri- 
fice ; but soon after, the war broke out again, on Frederick's obtaining 
the election of his son, Maximilian, as king of the Romans, contrary to 
the constitution of the empire. This was, however, put a stop to by 
the interference of the electoral college. 

Matthias, during his reign, established a regular standing 
301 



A.D. 1490-1515.] KINGDOM OF HUNGARY. [§ 56. 

army, and with a great military talent united a desire for 
elegant literature. He founded a university and library at 
Ofen (Buda), and proved himself a zealous protector of litera- 
ture and learning, by inviting to his court the most eminent 
scholars and artists of Europe and the East. He likewise 
caused the laws to be ameliorated, and provided for their 
better administration, while he raised the kingdom to a high 
degree of splendour, without burdening his subjects with 
oppressive taxation. On the death of Matthias Corvinus 
without issue, the Hungarian throne, agreeably to compact, 
devolved upon the Emperor Frederick ; but not being able 
to resist the powerful and popular King of Bohemia, that 
monarch was elected, and eventually acknowledged by the 
empire. 

6. Hungary united with Bohemia (1490-1526). 
Maximilian, anxious to bring into his house the crowns of 
Bohemia and Hungary, ruled over byLadislasof Hungary, 
demanded an interview with Ladislas and his son Lewis, the 
regent of Bohemia, in order to advance his claims. Being 
resisted, an appeal to arms was the result, when the Hungarians 
were driven out of Lower Austria, and pursued by the 
Emperor to Stuhlweissenberg ; when, for want of resources, he 
was compelled to withdraw (1491). In 1515, at an interview 
between the sovereigns, it was arranged that Lewis, the regent 
of Bohemia, should be affianced to the Archduchess Maria, 
the granddaughter of the Emperor, and that Anna, the 
daughter of the Bohemian king Ladislas, and sister of Lewis, 
should be united to the Archduke Ferdinand, and heir to the 
Spanish dominions. By this arrangement the accession of the 
Austrian House to the thrones of Hungary and Bohemia was 
permanently secured. 

§ 56. 

SURVEY OP THE PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION DURING 
THE MIDDLE AGES. 

I. Eeligion. 

a) Propagation of Christianity. — After the 
conversion of the Saxons under Charlemagne (see page 90), 
Christianity was gradually introduced among all the Germanic 
races ; and in the ninth and tenth centimes was extended north 
and east, to the Scandinavians (in Sweden and Norway) and 
302 



§ 56.] RELIGION DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 

Sclavonic races (on the Baltic coast), as well as to the Hunga- 
rians. The Sclavonians of the south, the Moravians and 
the Bohemians, received Christianity through the medium of 
missionaries belonging to the Greek or Eastern church, whilst 
the Russians became acquainted with the Greek ritual through 
the Constantinopolitan church, and therefore remained con- 
nected with it. Since»the eleventh century the popes employed 
the secular arm in proselyting the heathens, and the nominally 
Christian nations of Europe were encouraged and commanded 
to undertake exterminating crusades against them. Chris- 
tianity, or rather Romanism, was therefore embraced by the 
idolaters on the eastern and southern coasts of the Baltic, 
as the Pomeranians, Prussians, Esthonians, Livonians, Cur- 
landers: the Prussians were rather exterminated than con- 
verted, as at the end of a fifty-three years' war with the 
Knights of the German order, there were scarcely any of the 
original Prussi left. The last to receive baptism were the 
Lithuanians, who, under the guidance and teaching of their 
grand duke, Jagello, consented to embrace the Christian faith 
(Romanism). 

b) The monastic life (compare page 162). Monastic 
institutions became more general after the ninth century, and 
were adopted by the clergy of the cathedral and collegiate 
churches. Since the tenth century the monks were mostly 
priests, who occupied themselves according to the rules of the 
order of St. Benedict, in agricultural pursuits, various handi- 
crafts, the instruction of youth, and the compilation of chronicles 
of history, and in copying or translating the works of ancient 
authors, etc. On the introduction of lay members, and the 
accumulation of wealth (the donations of the pious), the 
exemptions granted to the monasteries by the state at length 
produced a decay of discipline and disorder ; and immorality 
prevailed to such an extent, that, at length, these establish- 
ments were brought into great and merited contempt. There 
were, however, some men among them who, by establishing 
new orders, and introducing a more strict discipline, effected 
at least a partial reform. Thus, at the commencement of 
the tenth century, the Clunensian Monks arose in Burgundy; 
and at the end of the eleventh, the Carthusian Friars, founded 
by St. Bruno, of Cologne, canon of Rheims, and the Cis- 
tercians, at Cistercium (Citeaux), near Nijon, which order at 
the commencement of the twelfth century was transformed 
303 



MIDDLE AGES — RELIGION, [§56. 

into the more noble order of St. Bernard of Clairvaux (hence 
in France the name of Bernadines) : about the same period 
took place the foundation of the Pramionstratenses, by St. 
Norliert of Xanten, at Premontre. In the thirteenth century 
the four Mendicant orders rapidly succeeded each other — the 
Carmelites and the Dominicians (founded by the pious Spaniard 
Dominic de Gusman, at Toulouse), Fra?nciscans 7 founded by St. 
Francis of Assisi, and the Augustinian Monks. They differed 
from the previously established orders in not possessing any 
property, but depending for their support entirely upon the 
charitable contributions of the pious. From among the 
Mendicant Friars there appeared many who, as preachers and 
professors of art and science, obtained a well merited celebrity. 
The monastic institution was also still farther extended by 
the establishment of the religious orders of knighthood which 
had their origin in Palestine (Syria), and subsequently ex- 
tended to the countries of Europe, causing the foundation 
of kindred institutions to be laid in Spain, Portugal, and 
Livonia. Besides monasteries for monks, since the fourth 
century numerous Nunneries sprung up, of a kindred 
character with those which had their origin in the plains 
of Hungary. 

c) The differences which took place between the pope and 
the Byzantine emperor, Michael in., on the deposition of the 
patriarch Ignatius and the election of the weak and effeminate 
Phocius, laid the foundation of the separation of the 
Greek and Latin Churches, which, about the middle 
of the eleventh century (1054) became insurmountable, in 
consequence of the mutual excommunications of the pope 
(Leo ix.) and the patriarch of the court (Michael Cerularius). 
The repeated attempts at a re-union, made chiefly after the 
advancement of the Osman Turks into the countries of the 
West, proved ineffectual. 

II. Constitution. 

The changes or revolutions which took place in Germany 
and England produced results of a completely opposite character 
to those which were effected in France. In the latter, the 
power of the monarchy was strengthened by the additions 
made to the crown lands and the preservation of the succession 
in the Capetian house ; while in Germany and England 
the power of the sovereign was weakened, and fell into decay. 
The English monarchs were obliged, during their wars with 
304 



§ 56.] CONSTITUTION, AND POLITICAL CORPORATIONS. 

France and Scotland, as well as with the greater barons and 
the anti-kings opposed to them, to yield great and lasting 
privileges to the people, their subjects ; and the German 
monarchs became enfeebled and comparatively powerless, in 
consequence of the repeated changes of the dynasty, owing to 
the elective right being in the hands of the nobles ; hence the 
chief aim of the German emperors was to increase their patri- 
monial inheritance and to add to the power of their respective 
houses. To accomplish these ends the rights and revenues of 
the crown provinces were sacrificed to the nobles for pa- 
tronage, and the towns for money; this caused the latter to 
rise considerably in power and importance, and at length to 
become nearly independent. The German empire was, there- 
fore, split into a number of separate independent principalities, 
and formed a federal republic, ruled over by elective princes, 
the authority of the emperor scarcely extending beyond his 
own immediate domains. On the extinction of the house of 
Hohenstaufen, the empire, by the divisions of the former great 
duchies, counted no less than 116 ecclesiastical and 100 tem- 
poral states. To the ecclesiastical belonged 6 archbishoprics, 
37 bishoprics, 70 abbacies, and the 3 spiritual orders of 
knighthood. The temporal embraced 4 electorates, 6 duchies, 
and about 60 free or imperial cities. 

In Italy a sort of political equilibrium or balance developed itself, 
chiefly through the preponderance of Florence, which occupied a middle 
position between the democratic states (commonwealths) of the North 
(Venice and Milan) and the absolutism of the South (the States of the 
Church and Naples) 5 which partook of both the monarchical and the 
republican elements. 

The great characteristic of the second half or period of the 
middle ages, is the rise of political Corporations, 
which pervaded all classes, and assumed various forms and 
conditions. They were exhibited in the spiritual order 
of knighthood, the Hansas or leagues of the Burghers, the 
Guilds and Corporations of the working classes (the artizans), 
the Universities and their national bodies, the Mercenaries 
or military bands of soldiers who hired themselves for 
pay, and the Bandit confraternities who acted as escorts to 
merchants and travellers, the fellowship of Builders (archi- 
tects), and the Unions (or schools) of painters, and, since 
the fourteenth century, also in the Confederacies of towns, 
and the nobility (see pages 168 — 225). 
305 



MIDDLE AGES — POLITICAL CORPORATIONS, [§56. 

a) Rise and development of free citizenship within the coun- 
tries embraced by the Carlovingian empire. 

a a) In Upper and Central Italy the liberty, jurisdiction, 
and administration of the cities and towns had come into the hands of 
the magistrates, at the head of whom were the consules communes, who 
maintained a continuous conflict against the emperors of the house 
of Hohenstaufen. 

At a diet on the Koncaglian plain, held during the second expedition 
of Frederick i. into Italy, a constitution was established, which over- 
threw the rights of the citizens, and took the administration out of the 
hands of the town consuls, and placed it hi the hands of a single 
judge, an imperial lieutenant {Podesta); to him the regales or regal 
rights were committed. On the abuse of the authority entrusted 
to them they were expelled, and town or civic podestas, elected by 
the citizens, occupied their place. Subsequently the artizan citizens 
demanded a share in the administration, granted hitherto only to 
families of the patrician order, when the government was placed under 
the direction of an officer named Capitano del propolo, who was 
placed in opposition to the podesta and checked the violence of his 
proceedings. In war, when it was necessary that there should be 
no divisions, the command of the citizen warriors, as well as the jurisdic- 
tion of the town (for the time) was entrusted either to a neighbouring 
prince (Signoria) renowned for valor, or to some celebrated chief, 
termed a Condottiere. 

b) In Germany, as in Italy, the constitutional liberty 
of towns, or progress of municipalities, was developed by 
their emancipation from the thraldom and jurisdiction of the 
counts, and by confederations formed among themselves. 

The exemptions which the ecclesiastical dignitaries had obtained in 
the ninth century, for their territorial domains, from the Emperor 
Henry the Eowler, were also afterwards extended to the cities and 
towns of the secular nobility, in order to promote their foundation. In 
all these cities and towns more hberty was granted than to the inhabi- 
tants of the rural districts outside their walls. This, especially in 
Germany, was necessary, in conseqtience of the repugnance which the 
people entertained to living in waUed or confined places. The Weich- 
bildrecht (or town constitution) defined those privileges, and enumerated 
the exemptions of the citizens. The government of the town was in the 
hands of a bailiff or lieutenant, appointed either by the sovereign or the 
noble upon whose domains the city was erected; where the bailiff 
was entrusted also with the government of a castle, he was termed a 
Burggrave. A President was appointed for the regulation of civil 
affairs ; but both the bailiff and the president were under the control 
of the Schoeffen (Scabini) judges, who were chosen by the citizens, 
under the presidency of the bailiff, from among the free proprietors of 
the soil. To the Schoeffen, and sometimes in conjunction with them, 
succeeded a college or senate of councillors, Sen at us, consisting of 
twelve or more members, selected from the free burgesses, who were 
306 



§ 56.] LEGISLATION, AND GOVERNMENT. 

under the presidentship of one or two Mayors (Magistri civium), or 
Consuls. These exercised the power committed by the sovereign to 
the bailiffs and presidents of the court, who were removed. During the 
reign of Frederick n. and the Interregnum, the inhabitants of the cities 
and towns, probably by the payment of large sums, procured an exemp- 
tion from sending a military force to accompany the emperor in his 
wars, and in many instances withheld all feudal obligations, and did 
away with all the vassalitic rights to which they had been subject. The 
cities were subject immediately to, or taken under the protection of, 
the emperor ; they were, however, self-governed, and eventually obtained, 
generally by purchase, regalian rights, — such as the coining of money, 
the collection of dues, and the holding of markets, with the privileges of 
an almost unrestricted commerce. In the fourteenth century the 
Communes or free corporations (Guilds) took entire possession of the 
government of the cities and towns, formerly the privilege only of the 
burgomasters, mayors, and the senatus or town council. 

c) In France the nobility and clergy granted to the 
cities and towns the rights of sovereignty or self-government, 
from political motives, because they saw it to be to their 
interest to promote the prosperity of their vassals, or for 
large sums of money. The inhabitants received charters, and 
formed themselves into communities, elected their own mayors, 
sheriffs, or liverymen, established companies of militia, and 
took the charge of the fortifications and the wardenship of 
their cities. In the south of France the government of the 
cities were in the hands of officers termed syndics and consuls. 

III. Legislation and Government. 

The collections of laws made during this period chiefly 
embraced the penalties to be paid as compensations for theft 
and other crimes, varying according to the rank and condition 
of the individual. These laws were compiled either from the 
records of traditions, or consisted of abstracts of existing 
written laws, collected by the command of princes. Some- 
times they were the works of private individuals, which, in 
process of time, being publicly sanctioned by the Assembly, 
were recognised as legal statutes. Among these were the 
Lex Salic a, for the use of the Salian Franks ; the Saxon 
Lege and the Swabian Lege, the former for the Ger- 
mans of the North, and the latter for those of the South, which 
were chiefly compiled from the ancient customs and traditions 
of the people. There were also charters, granted by the sove- 
reign, as the Magna Charta Libert at um of John of 
England, and the Golden Bull of Andrew n., of Hungary 
— decrees which fixed the rights and liberties of the subject, 
307 



MIDDLE AGES CRIMINAL LAW. [§56. 

and were ratified by the sovereign and the state. In civil pro- 
ceedings the ordeals, and the judicial combat, were gradually 
abolished, but torture by the rack, with various other barbarous 
modes of extorting evidence, became much more common; 
many of these cruel practices are shrouded in impenetrable 
darkness ; but in Germany such examinations are known to 
have been rendered most cruel and sanguinary, especially in 
the Duchy of Westphalia. 

Criminal Law, founded in cruelty and blood, was in Germany, 
at Westphalia, administered by the free courts, presided over by judges 
chosen from among the free, under the presidency of a free count 
nominated by the emperor. The free courts of Dortmund and Aarns- 
burg, etc., eventually extended their jurisdiction, and in the fifteenth 
century took cognizance of certain crimes throughout the whole of the 
German empire, — as heresy, sacrilege, treachery, theft, murder, and per- 
jury, etc., etc. The free counts assumed the power of deciding 
upon the punishment to be inflicted upon all criminals, as judges 
enfeoffed by the emperor with the penal jurisdiction; and for the ex- 
ecution of their sentences there existed a secret confederation composed 
of more than 100,000 members, who conducted their affairs by the aid 
of secret signs, and were dispersed over the whole of Germany. 

IV. The Sciences. 

At the commencement of the middle age learning and 
science were principally fostered by the Greeks, or Byzantines, 
and in all the most important cities and towns of the empire 
there were flourishing academies in which the Platonic philo- 
sophy, grammar, and rhetoric were taught. In the West 
the schools and colleges were almost exclusively the property 
of the church, and connected with the cathedrals and monastic 
establishments. The most famous of these were the capitular 
schools and convents of St. Gall, Corvey, Fulda, Paderborn, 
Hildesheim, Oxford, and Paris.* After the commencement of 
the ninth century the arts and sciences made a rapid advance- 
ment among the Arabians, in Asia, but especially in Spain, 
where they had founded the caliphat of Cordova. Under 
Hachem n. the arts in Spain may be said to have reached the 
golden era (see § 33). Under the caliphs (specially under 
the Sultan Mamum) no expense was spared; scholars were 

* The flourishing condition of these early seats of learning is much 
indebted to the celebrated Alcuin, of York (where was a famous school, 
as well as at Canterbury), who, at the request of Charlemagne, took up 
his residence in France, and founded a school, the germ of the (then 
future) university of Paris ; to a pupil also of Alcuin, the great celebrity 
of the school of St. Fulda was indebted. 
30S 



§ 56.] SCIENCES — LITERATURE. 

invited from all countries to their courts, in which they took 
up their residence. Greek, Persian, Coptic, and Chaldaic 
manuscripts were bought and translated into Arabic, for the 
instruction of their Moslem subjects in thecaliphats of Baghdat, 
Alexandria, Ispahan, Samarkand, Damascus, Kufa, Bassora, 
and above all in Cordova. Scientific institutes were estab- 
lished, universities and public schools were founded, in which 
not only Mussulmen, but Christians and Jews were instructed, 
and to which even the caliphs themselves resorted, to hear 
lectures on philosophy, medicine, mathematics, and natural 
history. 

It was not until the second half of the middle age that the 
sciences were taught without the monastic walls by laymen and 
ecclesiastics ; then, literary corporations or universities, founded 
and encouraged by sovereigns, took their rise in the great 
cities of Europe. First among them were the celebrated 
schools of jurisprudence at Bologna, and those of theology 
and of philosophy at Paris and Oxford (after the eleventh 
century). The students formed a privileged corporation or 
university, under self-government and the superintendence of 
the church. According to the model furnished by these 
universities, others were founded, so that at the beginning 
of the thirteenth century, there were schools and universities 
at Padua, Naples, Toulouse, Salamanca, Coimbra, Cambridge, 
etc. With these were introduced, about the close of the 
middle ages, two very important studies, which gave to learn- 
ing an impetus hitherto unknown, and quite another feature 
to the study of the arts and sciences — 

a) The revival of the Study of Classical Literature, at first 
prompted by the Florentines, Petrarch and Boccaccio, who 
obtained the highest celebrity as professors of classical learn- 
ing, the fragments of which, scattered throughout Europe, 
were collected, collated, and explained. After the conquest 
of the Greek empire, when the Grecian literati, to escape 
the barbarity of the Turks, fled into Italy, a fund of lite- 
rature found its way into the houses of the great in the 
Italian States, where they were protected and fostered by 
the noble family of the Medici, who patronised science and 
literature with a zeal equal to their immense wealth. The 
schools of Italy gave a ready reception to the writings of the 
ancients, and professors of Grecian language and literature 
were established in the schools of the Florentine republic; 
309 



MIDDLE AGES — SCIENCE. [§56. 

these efforts were also well seconded by Laurentius Valla, 
Ticinus, and the Germans, Agricola and Reuchlin. 

During the same period numerous public schools were established ; 
among them was the celebrated school of Florence, founded by Cosmo 
di Medici, in which the Platonic philosophy was taught. Manuscripts 
were sought after and collected, as well as ancient coins, gems, inscrip- 
tions, etc. 

b) The Invention of the Art of Printing. — The art of print- 
ing followed the invention of making paper from cotton, which 
was not introduced into Europe until the thirteenth century, 
when parchment was nearly wholly laid aside, excepting for 
lasting documents. Printing was first practised by the cele- 
brated Senator Gutenburg, who printed from moveable 
types, while the font, was the invention of Peter Schosffer, of 
Guernsheim ; the first work printed was the Gutenburg Latin 
Bible (1456). 

Printing owes its origin to engraving on wood, and was practised by 
the card makers' fraternity in Germany for twenty-four years at least 
before the invention of printing from moveable types. Figures, illus- 
trative of sacred history and legends, were represented on one side, • 
while narratives explaining their meaning were printed on the other; 
a number of these was sometimes placed together and formed a book, 
which was frequently richly coloured and adorned, and sold at a very 
high price. 

Theology was not introduced into the great schools and 
universities, as a science, until the thirteenth century, when 
philosophy took two predominant directions. In the one it 
appeared as the handmaid of religion; in the other as an 
assistant to the understanding, and the regulator of the moral 
feelings, a) The Scholastic Philosophy (so called 
because, since the days of Alcuin, the English scholar, it formed 
the chief subject of ecclesiastical study) consisted in deter- 
mining the various dogmas of the church by the principle 
of logical argumentation based on the dialectic philosophy of 
Aristotle, b) The Mystical Philosophy which was 
explained practically in sermons in which the application 
of the dogmas of the church to the purposes of life was incul- 
cated, and theoretically, in an intuitive contemplation 
of the Deity. The chief scholastic philosophers were Alcuin, 
Scotus Erigena (the Irishman), and Rabanus Maurus, both born 
in the ninth century, the former the founder of the mystic, and 
the latter, a pupil of Alcuin. Anselm of Canterbury (f 1109), 
Abelard (f 1142), and Peter of Lombardy. The most flourish- 
310 



§ 56.] THEOLOGY, JURISPRUDENCE, HISTORIOGRAPHY. 

ing period of the scholastic philosophy was under the fostering 
care of the Dominican friars Albertus Magnus (f 1280) and 
Thomas Aquinas (f 1274). The Franciscan monks Roger 
Bacon (f 1294) and Duns Scotus (| 1308) extended the study 
of dialectic philosophy, hitherto almost confined to theology, 
to subjects of natural philosophy. Already (in 1092) the 
scholastic dialectarians divided themselves into two principal 
schools — the Realists and the Nominalists; the 
former for a long time predominating and asserting the reality 
of general ideas, or the agreement of general ideas with the 
things themselves — in other words, that general ideas were 
things. The latter, the sceptical Nominalists, who in the 
fourteenth century rose to great importance, and held that 
all notions obtained by experience or thinking alone were 
mere shadows or conceptions — in other words, mere words 
or names. The chief representative of the mystical philo- 
sophy was St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who maintained a 
violent struggle against the dialectical philosophy. Among 
the Arabs the philosophy of Aristotle alone was explained 
and taught. 

Jurisprudence was divided into two branches, Civil and Ec- 
clesiastical, or Canonical; and the most renowned teachers of 
both civil and canon law were at the great school of Bologna. 
Among the professors of civil law was Irnevius (f 1151), and 
of canon law, Gratianus (f 1158), who compiled a book of 
ecclesiastical statutes termed Corpus Decretum. 

Historiography formed the principal branch of Byzan- 
tine literature during the mediaeval era, and was extensively 
patronised by the princely houses of Italy. It became a fa- 
vourite subject among the Arabs, who however wrote with- 
out any regard to criticism ; hence their best works consist of 
legendary tales which border on the marvellous, filled with 
eastern extravagancies and exaggerations, to suit their national 
predilections and to enhance their national glory. In the 
West, until the twelfth century, learning was exclusively in 
the hands of the clergy, whose legendary works, and annals, 
rivalled in marvellous exaggeration the productions of the East, 
while superstition and credulity were predominant features 
in the chronicles of history and ecclesiastical biography. It 
even found its way into the grave sermons and addresses 
of the priests. Hence, the learning of the "West during this 
period consists of legends and biographies of the saints, and 
311 



MIDDLE AGES — GEOGRAPHY, MATHEMATICS. [§56. 

chronicles of history, chiefly written in the Latin tongue, which 
was peculiarly the language of the church and of all public 
documents, for the national or vernacular tongue was not yet 
reduced to writing, nor was it employed in Europe until the 
closing period of the crusades, when (in the fourteenth century) 
it was adopted by the French historians Joinville and Geoffrey. 
For the copiousness of their details, as well as the number 
of their works, the Italians have the pre-eminence. 

Geography, as a science, was considerably advanced by 
the conquests as well as by the commercial enterprizes of the 
Arabs, which extended in the East as far as to China and the 
Indian Archipelago, and in Africa, far into the interior of that 
continent. The higher northern portions of Europe were made 
known through the Normans, who frequented Greenland and 
even visited the coasts of Northern America (Massachusetts 
and Khode Island). The frequent pilgrimages and crusades 
undertaken for pious purposes, and the travels of missionaries 
and private individuals all tended to add considerably to the 
geography of the East, as well as of Africa. The knowledge of 
the former was, to a great extent, circulated through the mar- 
vellous accounts of the overland journeys of the two brothers 
Polo and Carpini, and others. The use of the compass, then 
just introduced into Europe, enabled voyagers to undertake 
more distant expeditions; and soon after discoveries were 
made which astonished and delighted the nations of Europe, 
while they furnished adventurers who pursued them with a 
zeal and emulation such as has never been surpassed (see § 49). 

In Mathematics and Natural Philosophy the Arabs became 
(in their schools in Spain) the teachers of Europe, and in 
these branches of learning the most successful efforts were 
made, investigating nature through the medium of specu- 
lative ideas, rather than from observation and experience, 
they occupied themselves with astrology, magic, and alchemy. 
In the natural sciences, Medicine in all its branches, with 
the exception of Anatomy (forbidden by the Koran), was 
deeply studied. The disadvantages arising from not being 
acquainted with the organic structure of the human body, 
however, was in some measure compensated for by their high 
advancement in botanical science (the medicinal property of 
herbs, etc.), and their proficiency in chemistry. Their know- 
ledge of the latter science was much enhanced by their vain 
endeavours to discover the philosopher's stone, which should 
312 



§ 56.] LITERATURE. 

change all metallic substances into gold. The medical know- 
ledge of the Arabs was early transplanted into the countries 
of the West, where, at Salerno, in 1030, a school was founded, 
which maintained a high celebrity for centuries. In the thir- 
teenth century the school of Montpellier was founded, and 
since that period the science of medicine was taught in all 
the schools of Italy, based, however, on Hippocrates and 
Galen as authors, whose works were translated from the 
Arabic. In the fourteenth century the science of medicine 
was practised by the lower orders of the clergy, and largely 
mixed up with the superstitions of the Roman faith. 

V. The literature of the middle agewas,first,aChristian 
Latin literature, composed for a peculiar class of scholars, 
and as it was devoted to ecclesiastical learning chiefly, it was 
disseminated almost wholly among the clergy; and, secondly, 
there was a national literature, which was of a poetic 
character, and designed for the people, written in the vernacular 
tongue, which since the ninth century gradually attained a firm 
and settled form, not only among the Germanic races, but also 
among the Roman people. 

A. The National Literature of the Germans. 

a) The poetry of the Scandinavians, among whom 
the Icelanders may be reckoned. In consequence of their de- 
tached and isolated situation from the rest of Europe, the 
Icelanders have handed down to us the most ancient and pure 
specimens of national poetry in the vernacular tongue extant. 
It may be divided into three kinds. 1st. Religious poetry, 
chiefly of a mythological character, embodying the whole circle 
of 1 Paganism (a cosmographic mythology), or confined to the 
description of traditional national deities worshipped by an 
individual nation or people. 2nd. Heroic poetry (His- 
toric Sagas), illustrative, almost exclusively, of the fictions 
and tales of the northern tribes and those which are common 
to all the Germanic races. Specimens of both classes of 
poetry are to be found in the Eddaic poems collected by 
Salmund the Wise (1033). 3rd. Songs of the Scalds, 
which was almost confined to historical subjects from the 
eighth to the eleventh century. The younger Edda, or the 
prose, was chiefly made up of romances interspersed with 
short poems. 

On Christianity being introduced into Iceland, here, as in GTermany, 
the popular poetry decayed, and a Christian poetry succeeded, but pro- 
313 p 



LITERATURE OF THE [§56. 

bably not before the fourteenth century, when the revival of a general 
national poetry took place. Meanwhile there was a large accession of 
prose literature, consisting of histories and mythic legendary 
tales, and collections of laws, with the modern E d d a, a compendium 
of instruction for the younger Scalds, who aspired to the knowledge of 
mythology, poetry, rhetoric, and history. 

b) The Anglo-Saxons had also at a very early period 
a copious poetical and prose literature. In the former, the epic 
form appears predominant, and their contents were partly 
national (as in Boewulf ) and partly theological, in the eloquence 
of the pulpit, which rose to a high and flourishing condition. 

The more recent Anglo-Saxon poetry (as in England, the 
southern possessions of the Angles) partook of both the epic 
and romantic character, and the songs or ballads common 
also among the northern Franks. In the north of Angle- land 
(England), and in the land of the Scots (Scotland), there was 
also a ballad poetry, similar to that of the German national 
ballads, which was sung by wandering minstrels, and harpers, 
who accompanied them on the harp or viol. They depended 
entirely upon the memory for their repetition, and were at that 
period the only historic compositions in existence. As Chris- 
tianity prevailed, the poems of the minstrels took a sacred 
turn, and Bede relates of the minstrel monk Caedmon (1680) 
that he sung the creation of the world, the origin of mankind, 
the incarnation, passion, and resurrection of our Lord, and his 
ascension into heaven. Among the chief prose writers of the 
Anglo-Saxons in England were Aldhelm and Bede, the latter 
of whom may be regarded as the glory of the age in which he 
lived.. 

InWales the Gaelic language was peculiarly rich in heroic 
ballads and tales, which recounted the deeds of their Gallic 
chiefs, and in which much of the history of the race was treasured 
up by the bards. Among the most famous of the Welsh 
poems were the Triads, for which a very high antiquity is 
claimed, and probably may be allowed. 

The poems of Ossian (the alleged songs of the Scots 
located in the Highlands) recount the deeds of the King of 
Fingal, and consist of poetical fragments ; by the majority of 
the learned they are, however, deemed to be spurious. 

The Celtic songs of the Irish are chiefly fragments, but 
the prose of the Irish, consisting of historic records, or chroni- 
cles, are more ancient than those possessed by any other nation, 
in its vernacular tongue. 
314 



§ 56.] MIDDLE AGES. 

c) In Germany literature was, up to the period of 
the house of Hohenstaufen, almost exclusively in the hands 
of the clergy. The most ancient monuments of the German 
(Gothic) language are the fragments of a translation of the 
Bible by Bishop Ulphilus. But chivalry, the crusades, and 
the struggles of the house of Hohenstaufen with the popes, 
served to contribute to the development of literature, hitherto 
confined to the clergy, and to place it in the hands of the laity, 
whose works were chiefly poetic. The twelfth century was 
marked by the introduction of the "Niebelungen," a 
collection of heroic poems and ballads descriptive of the 
wanderings and migrations of the Germanic races of former 
ages. To this more popular epoch a courtly epic song or 
lyric poetry arose (Minnegesang), sung by minstrels at the 
courts of princes, and at the palaces of the nobility, the most 
refined professors of which were Henry of Valdeke, Hartman 
of Aue, Wolfram of Eisenbach, and Godfrey of Strasburg. 
The poetry of chivalry towards the close of the middle age 
gave way to the Meistergesang (master song, or songs of the 
free workmen) practised by the burghers and the artizans at 
their regular assemblies. Prose was but little cultivated before 
the close of this period. 

B. National Literature of the Roman people. 

a) The Provencal language spoken by the Franks 
south of the Loire was peculiarly rich, and distinguished by a 
high polish in comparison with the German dialects, although 
mixed up with foreign idioms and corrupt in pronunciation. 
It was the language of poetry, and in this tongue (lingua Ro- 
mano) the songs of the troubadours were composed, which 
were recited by the minstrels at the courts of sovereigns, and 
the palaces of princes. It attained its highest point — its 
maximum of excellence, in the twelfth century, after which it 
gradually decayed and gave place to a lyrical erratic poetry, 
which assumed various forms, as Tenzones, Sonnets, Canzonets, 
Sestinets, Ballads, etc. 

Peculiar to this erratic poetry were the Sirventes, a species of songs 
which were sometimes satirical and severe, condemning the vices and 
foibles of nations and individuals, and at others laudatory, and filled 
with encomium and praise. The romantic and imaginative prose of the 
age was very extensive, but there are, notwithstanding, but few remains. 

b) Almost at the same period the development of poetic 
literature took place in Northern France, chiefly in Normandy, 

315 p2 



LITERATURE OF THE [§ 56. 

where the Trouveres produced works descriptive of ancient 
British, Frankish, and Norman scenes, lyric and allegoric 
poems, and in a series of romances taken from the Latin. 
They also wrote on theology and natural history. During 
the period of the crusades against the infidel Turks and the 
Albigensians, the French of the North became acquainted 
with the Provencals of the South, and a new epoch developed 
itself in their literature. Epic romances, contes, and fabliaux 
intended for narration only, were composed, while allegorical, 
lyrical, and satirical poetry abounded. About the same time 
attempts were made in dramatic poetry (at first with sacred 
subjects); and composition in prose (histories and biogra- 
phies), according to the rules of criticism, were also introduced, 
c) The songs of the Troubadours, which reached Spain 
from Provence, on its confines, served to give a character to 
the national poetry of the Castilians, which consisted princi- 
pally of those compositions which recounted the martial deeds 
and heroism of the Cid ('('1099). The Spanish ballad, how- 
ever, was most predominant, and at a later date allegorical 
poetry arose, after the example of Dante. The dramas of 
Spain were all sacred, and represented the worship and mum- 
meries of the Koman church. They consisted of mysteries 
and miracle- plays. The mystery plays were mixed up 
with certain burlesque and satirical characters : in the play 
of " Noah's Flood," the wife of the patriarch was represented 
as always quarrelling, and even given to drunkenness: and 
in the plays of the " Trial of the Virgin," and the " Scourging 
of Christ," such scenes were exhibited as could but excite dis- 
gust. The matter of which they were composed was Scrip- 
ture narrative turned into dialogue, mingled with the vilest 
ribaldry ; while, to awe the people, Hell and Purgatory, show- 
ing the varied torments of the different characters plunged 
into the fiery lakes, were also frequently set before them. The 
miracle-plays represented monkish legendary tales, and 
were calculated, like the former, rather to excite the laughter 
and disgust of the audience, than to promote their improvement, 
or to act as a check upon the vices of the great, which these 
representations were said to satirize. They were performed in 
the open air on a cart or stage, and in the churches. In France, 
Spain, and Germany they were known at the close of the 
twelfth century, and in England during the fifteenth. 
, d) The national literature of Italy during the middle 
316 



§ 56.] MIDDLE AGES. 

age was fostered by and under the influence of the church, 
and consisted at first of translations of works of antiquity. 
| The north of Italy was early pervaded by the songs and 
poetry of the Provencals; while in the South, under the 
Normans, a pure Sicilian school arose. A combination of the 
two in the Florentine republic (the seat of political and literary 
strife) produced the old Italian school of poetry. In 1265 
Dante Alighieri commenced his " Divina Commedia" (Wan- 
derings in Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory), a work of its kind 
not excelled in more recent times; and soon after (1304 — 74) 
Francesca Petracca brought forth his poems and sonatas, in 
which the style of the erratic poetry of Provence is blended 
with the Sicilian. In 1313 appeared the author of the "Deca- 
merone," the " French Fabliaux" (fables), Giovanni Boccaccio 
(1313-75), who became the future model of Italian poets, 
and adopted the Tuscan dialect. 

After a lapse of time Italian poetry took a higher range, especially 
during the ascendancy of the Medici, one of the members of which family 
(Lorenzo de Medici) being himself a successful imitator of the lyric style 
of Petrarch. Pulci, a friend of Lorenzo, also transplanted the romance 
poetry of Lombardy into the democratic state of Florence. 

Music, the handmaid of poetry, had early been cultivated as a science, 
and a new system of notation had been introduced by G-uido of Arezzo, 
and of time by Franco of Cologne. Towards the end of the middle age 
singing in parts had been introduced, as well as numerous improvements 
in the construction of musical instruments. 

C. The literature of the Arabians partook of a scientific 
and poetic character. The former was the exclusive property 
of the court (the caliphs and sultans), the rich nobles, the 
learned men, and the officers of state. The poetic literature 
was disseminated among the people by a sort of wandering 
declaimers, who repeated from memory poems on every subject 
and of all kinds, with the exception of the dramatic. The 
prose literature was especially rich in tales of fiction (romances), 
among which is the " Thousand and one Nights." 

Already, before the appearance of Mahomet, assemblies used annually 
to be held at Mecca, where poets from all parts of Arabia contended for 
a prize by reciting their compositions. The poems of the successful 
competitors were written in letters of gold, and hung up in the Caaba 
(from whence their name, Moallakat, the suspended). Seven of these 
poems have been preserved to us. In the (sometimes) sublime diction 
of the Koran, poetry assumed a religious cast. Under the Abbasidian 
caliphs, poetry degenerated into a courtly and servile effeminacy j but 
317 



MIDDLE AGES ARTS. [§56. 

lyrical legendary compositions, extolling the warlike deeds of their heroes, 
and romantic narratives of chivalry, were predominant. 

D. From the eleventh to the fourteenth century Persian 
poetry reached its most flourishing condition, when the great 
Firdusi, commanded by the sultan, sung his epic poem, which 
embraced the history of the Persian monarchy from the most 
remote period down to the fall of the Sassanides. It is re- 
corded in the " Annals of the Magii," and consisted of 60,000 
double verses. In the fourteenth century Hans was the most 
celebrated Persian epic poet. 

VI. The Arts. 

Architecture among the arts evidently for a long period 
obtained the ascendancy, and was chiefly developed in the 
construction of religious edifices; first in the Greek style, 
afterwards in the rich and noble Norman and Gothic styles. 

a) Ecclesiastical architecture during the middle age, em- 
braced three principal styles, viz., the Byzantine, the 
Romanesque, and the Gothic (German) styles. 

a a) The Byzantine Style was founded on the structure of the 
Basilica?, or halls of justice of the Eomans. They were of rectangu- 
lar form, and divided into three or five sections by rows of pillars 
or columns, which ran the whole length of the building. At the end of 
the building there was a semicircular recess, in which was placed the 
tribunal of the judge, where, in subsequent times, the altar found its 
place, while the male portion of the congregation occupied the central ob- 
long space, and the women occupied the galleries erected over the aisles. 
The earliest specimen is tbat of the Basilica of St Clement, at Rome ; but 
far surpassing it is the church of St. Sophia, or the Eternal Wisdom, 
built by Constantine at his eastern capital, Constantinople (Byzantium). 
A departure from this form soon took place, and the central nave was 
elevated to a considerable height above the lateral or side naves, being 
supported by semicircular arches, which rested upon numerous columns. 
The central roof or dome was of a hemispherical form (or half circle), 
and frequently adorned with paintings of an emblematical and scrip- 
tural character. Crypts, or subterranean chapels, were also early in- 
troduced, in which were deposited the relics of canonized saints. The 
introduction of the cupola, or arch, into the ancient Basilicae form, is 
the most perfect Byzantine style, and is exhibited in the Christian 
churches of Borne, Ravenna, and other towns of Italy, and Aachen 
(Aix-la-Chapelle), in each of which the plan is that of an octagon, 
formed of semicircles. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jeru- 
salem is also of this construction. 

b b) The Romanesque Style (ringed arches, apsides). 

The Romanesque is founded on the Byzantine style, uniting with 
it the cruciform ground plan, and the semicircular apsis, with secondary 
apsides (circles). A particular space in the principal nave was also 
318 



§ 56.] AECH1TECTUKE. 

assigned to the choristers, underneath which was a spacious crypt used 
as a chapel. The arched vault also took place of the flat roof, and 
detached cupolas or domes were introduced. The principal alterations, 
however, were in the interior, in the details of the building, in the 
restoration of enriched columns, or pillars ; while at the exterior there 
were introduced into the facade, chiefly at the portals, on the diverg- 
ing sides of the doorways of the vestiarium and the evangeliuni, 
ornamental decorations of an exquisite richness. The steeples, too, 
were not always placed in the centre of the cross ; double steeples 
were introduced at the facade, which, with the dome or cupola, formed 
a group. 

The most renowned works of Komanesque architecture were 
erected by the church in Italy and in Germany; first in the 
land occupied by the Saxons, and then in the countries 
on the Rhine, where also are numerous monuments exhibit- 
ing the transition style from the Eomanesque to the 
Gothic or German, in which there is a tendency to the lofty 
pointed tower or spire. 

c c) The Gothic or German Style (the pointed arch style). 

The peculiar construction of the pointed arch gave a lightness and 
airiness to the sacred buildings, which before were heavy and sombre. 
The G-othic shares with the Eomanesque the cross-form plan (cruci- 
form), and the richly adorned triple facade. In the interior, 
where the greatest changes were introduced, there was a peculiarity 
in the structure of the pillars. Nave arches, springing from square 
piers, to each face of which a half column was attached, and semi- 
circular columns placed against a circular stem or trunk (clustered 
columns), became common ; the enrichment of the windows took place, 
which served to fill up their broad and ample spaces ; trefoiled heads 
were introduced, and. mulhons, which separated them. Instead of 
being semicircular, the heads of the windows were lancet-shaped, long, 
and narrow. The crypt, under the principal nave, was removed, and 
the place assigned to the choristers remained no longer elevated, while 
its dimensions were increased j the lateral or side naves were double, 
and formed circular recesses, used as small chapels. The capitals of 
the columns were sometimes of the Corinthian style, and at others 
decorated with the heads of animals, as griffins, eagles, etc., while the 
walls were richly adorned with a profusion of Mosaic and other 
ornamental work: the mouldings and ornaments were of the most 
florid style. The windows were also decorated with painted pictures 
on glass. Outside, the differences betwixt the Romanesque and the 
Grotliic styles were more striking still. The massive walls gave way to 
circular and pointed arches supported by columns or pillars, and the 
portals at the cross ends of the edifice were richly adorned. The 
facades were separated by buttresses richly ornamented with canopies 
and statues in relief, crowned by pointed gables: niches and statues 
occupied the diverging sides of the doorways ; and where the nave was 
intersected by the transepts, rose an octagonal tower a little elevated 
319 



MIDDLE AGES ARCHITECTURE. [§ 56. 

above the roof of the nave, and sometimes covered with a cupola; 
while two steeples corresponding with the two lateral naves sur- 
mounted the whole building : these consisted of several stories, above 
which was a pyramidal octagonal spire pierced with ribs, and far sur- 
mounted the whole building. 

Since the twelfth century, the richer and more wealthy- 
laity took a share in the cultivation of the arts and sciences ; 
so that architecture passed out of the hands of the church 
into those of the temporal princes, etc. For the execution 
of the great and noble buildings which characterized the 
thirteenth and two following centuries organized societies, 
or lodges of Masons, arose (Freemasons), which subsequently- 
extended (from England ?) throughout the German empire, 
and kept up a correspondence with the principal lodges of 
Strasburg, Vienna, and Cologne: They were governed by- 
regular laws, and animated by an ardent love for the ad- 
vancement of architectural science; and such was their in- 
dustry, that, few as they were comparatively, 157 abbeys and 
religious houses in England, besides others on the continent, 
were erected by them during the reign of the Plantagenets. 

The most ancient monuments of the Gothic, or Germanic 
architecture (embracing the German, French, and Norman, 
etc.), are to be found in Northern France, in the cathedrals 
of Paris, Chartres, Bourges, Eheims, Beauvais, Eouen and 
Amiens ; and in the Netherlands, chiefly in the cathedral 
churches of Antwerp, Brussels, and Louvain. In England 
there existed, as early as the seventh century, some noble 
specimens of ecclesiastical architecture in the abbeys of Rip- 
pon and Hexham, and in the monasteries of Wiremutha 
(Wear Mouth) and Jarrow. The style was that of the Ro- 
manesque (Anglo-Saxon), of a cruciform plan, with side aisles 
(lateral naves). Crypts and oratories were introduced, be- 
neath which the walls and vaulted roofs of the edifice were 
adorned with carved images, and paintings of various colours. 
At first there were no towers, and, when introduced, were 
placed at the western end of the building. Sometimes two 
towers were erected, as at Ram's Eye Abbey; the one at the 
western end of the building, the other in the centre, where the 
chancels cut the nave. On the accession of the Conqueror, a 
new style was introduced, that of the Anglo-Norman — cruci- 
form in plan, with a very low tower, taking its rise near the 
spot where the choir and nave are intersected by the transepts. 
320 



§ 56.] AECHITECTURE. 

Two cross naves were also sometimes introduced, and apsides, 
or semicircular chapels, placed at the eastern end of the 
building and of the transepts, were common, while the 
western, or principal front, was often flanked with towers. 
The columns and arches of the naves were painted with 
gay and brilliant colours, while the windows were adorned 
with paintings on glass, representative of scripture or monkish 
legends. Castings in bronze were also made use of as orna- 
ments, and the western and southern doorways were enriched 
by a profusion of ornamental mouldings and sculpture, which 
decorated the receding arches, the tympanum of which was 
also adorned with sculptured representations of our Saviour, 
angels, and saints, etc. Canterbury, Salisbury, and York 
cathedrals, and Westminster Hall and Abbey, with Henry 
the Seventh's Chapel, are among the most noble specimens of 
early English architecture. 

The grandest development of architecture was in Germany, which 
lays claim to ecclesiastical structures superior to almost any other 
country, and possesses peculiarities that are not to be observed 
elsewhere. At first, the Romanesque style prevailed, and then the 
strangely pointed arch was interwoven into it ; the most perfect 
specimen of which is that of the yet unfinished cathedral of Cologne, 
commenced (1248). To the same century belong also the minsters of 
Friberg and Strasburg (the latter by Ervin of Steinbach), and the 
cathedral of Ratisbon. In the fourteenth century, St. Stephen's, of 
Vienna, and the cathedrals of Prague and of Ulm were erected, and 
in the north-western portion of Germany, the churches of Marburg, 
Wetzlar, Minden, and Soest had long existed ; they were, however, 
more simple in structure than the preceding edifices, and vaulted 
pr arched naves were general, as also semicircular windows. At the 
close of the fourteenth, and at the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, 
German architecture assumed a lighter style and a more simple cha- 
racter, and this is especially apparent in the Baltic countries, 
to which the architecture of Italy was conveyed by Charlemagne. 
In Italy the most sublime specimens of ecclesiastical architecture are 
exhibited in the cathedral of Milan and the monastery or church of 
Pavia. Here a new school arose, which professed to make the works of 
antiquity its models : its specimens of architecture are scattered through- 
out the whole of the peninsula; but the most noble are at Pisa and 
Florence. With far less purity of style than in Germany, Italian 
architecture influenced that of Spain, as may be seen in the edifices 
erected by the Moors, who probably were indebted to the Romans for 
the columns which supported the naves of the mosque at Cordova. 

Mohammedanism, in its extension over countries 
long possessed by the Romans, adopted at first the forms of 
Christian architecture; but there was one grand exception, 
321 p 3 



MIDDLE AGES [§56. 

in that of sculpture ; the Koran forbade the representation of 
the human figure. This deficiency was, however, in some 
measure supplied by the Arabic inscriptions which adorned 
their mosques. 

In the structure of the Arabian mosques, two forms pre- 
vailed : the first consisted of a large square court, surrounded 
with arcades, and was therefore nothing more than the archie 
tectural decoration of an open space, while the second was 
a close building, the chief space of which was surmounted by 
a cupola, and its sides adorned with vaulted or arched spaces, 
similar to the Turkish buildings of the present day. The 
mosque is peculiar in the construction of the Minaret, which 
is an arch of the horse-shoe form, richly ornamented with 
Arabic inscriptions. Monuments of Moorish art existed in 
Spain, at Cordova, before the erection of mosques by the 
Mohammedan Turks. 

The Azzahra, on the Gruadalquiver, the splendid remains of which 
can jnst be traced, and the Alhambra, preserved down to the present 
time, and the later imitation in the Alcazar, were splendid specimens 
of Moorish architectural grandeur. The transition form, from the 
Moorish to the Eastern, or Asiatic style, may be seen in the mosques 
of Egypt, at Cairo and Alexandria; and in Syria, at Jerusalem and 
Damascus. The mosques of Asia Minor and Constantinople belong 
to a more recent period of Moha mm edan art, and have the Byzantine 
eupola structure as their foundation, that of the church of St. Sophia 
being more or less imitated. Persia and India have also their archi- 
tectural monuments, remarkable for their gigantic dimensions. Their 
Mohammedan edifices were, for the most part, not erected until the 
reign of the Great Mogul, in the twenty-first century. 

b) Sculpture and Painting being forbidden by 
the Koran, specially in representing the human figure, these 
arts were entirely neglected by the Arabs. The same feeling 
of aversion to idolatry exhibited by the Moslem, was also, for 
a long period, manifested by the early Christians, and sculp- 
tured representations in the churches, especially in relief, 
were forbidden: hence sculpture was applied almost solely to 
decorative purposes, painting alone being permitted to adorn 
the large surfaces on the walls and vaults of the Basilicse. 
The predilection for striking magnificence, and perhaps a 
regard to preservation, led to an early introduction of the 
Mosaic style of painting, with gold groundwork, which finally 
superseded the former. 

The most important specimens of ancient Christian 
322 



§ 56.] SCULPTURE, PAINTING, ETC. 

Sculpture, are reliefs found on the sarcophagi and ivory 
tablets (diphyces), which were made to shut up or close, and 
elaborately carved on the outer sides, sumptuous articles 
of furniture, and metal ornaments. The oldest specimens of 
Painting on Walls, are in that remarkable refuge from 
persecution the catacombs of Rome and those of Naples ; while 
Mosaics composed of coloured glass commonly adorned the 
walls and larger spaces of the vaults of nearly all the churches 
The finest preserved specimens are at Eavenna. A great 
movement took place in the development of painting, when 
the monks adorned their missals and manuscripts with minia- 
ture pictures, and illuminated initial letters, etc., etc. 

In the thirteenth century, a rapid advance took place both in 
the art of sculpture and of painting, which then began to be 
regarded as independent sciences. In Sculpture, Nicola Pisana 
(f about 1200), taking the antique for his model, arrived at 
great perfection; and in Painting, Cimabue ("j" about 1300) 
and Duccio, with the most complete success, practised paint- 
ing in oil, on boards of oak, which was also practised in the 
schools of Germany, under the masters Wilhelm and Stephan. 
Painting on the Walls had been thrown into the 
shade by the superior specimens produced by Painting 
on Glass, which, at the close of the tenth century, was 
invented by an artist of Bavaria. It was used in the adorning 
of the walls of ecclesiastical edifices, specially in the beautify- 
ing of the arched vault of the choir (as in Cologne), and the 
halls and cloisters of the religious houses of the time. It was 
introduced by Giotto (f 1336) into the school established 
by him in the Florentine republic. 

Painting in oil is generally ascribed to the two brothers Yan Eick, in 
the fourteenth century : it is, however, probably of an earlier date. 
De Mechel mentions having seen three pictures in the Grallery of 
Vienna, one having the date 1297, and the other two that of 1357 : 
they were all painted on panelled wood. 

VII. Commerce and Manufactures flourished in 
the first half of the middle age, principally in the countries 
subject to the Arabians; chiefly in Spain. The overland 
commerce of the Arabs was carried on by means of caravans, 
and extended over the countries of North and North-eastern 
Africa, Persia, Arabia, and the countries of interior Asia, as 
far as to China and Europe, the lands on the east and north 
of the Euxine Sea, and the Spanish peninsula; their voyages 
323 



MIDDLE AGES [§ 56. 

extended over the Arabian and Persian gulfs, and the Medi- 
terranean, Indian, and Chinese seas. 

In the second half of the mediaeval period, the com- 
merce of the sea, or the maritime trade, was (a), in 
the South, chiefly in the hands of the Italians. At the first, 
Venice shared with Genoa the dominion of the Mediterranean, 
and carried on her trade with the East Indies, Syria, and 
Africa, by the Egyptian route; Genoa traded to Byzantium, 
the Black Sea, the countries of the Levant and the Euxine 
Sea, and the Grecian Archipelago, the most important islands 
of which had been garrisoned either by them or the Vene- 
tians: they had possessions also in Greece and the Taurican 
Chersonesus. After a lingering war (see § 46) between both 
powers, Venice, which vanquished her rival, united with the 
commerce of Eastern India that also of the Levant, b) The 
trade of Northern and Western Europe was in the hands of 
the Hansas, or commercial leagues, which sprung up rapidly 
during the second half of the middle age. The great con- 
federacy of the German Hansa consisted of about eighty 
towns, belonging either to the Netherlanders, the North Ger- 
mans, or the Prussians ; they were united for the promotion 
and defence of their commerce against the plundering attacks 
of pirates on the sea, and armed plunderers on the land, who 
refuged in castles, from which they could not be easily dis- 
lodged. Since the middle of the thirteenth century, the great 
Hansa was separated into a number of smaller Hansas, or Cor- 
porations : at first there were three, then four. The chief or 
central city of the Westphalian Hansa, was Cologne ; that of 
Prussia was Danzyk; that of Wendish Saxony was Lubeck, 
and that of Saxony (Proper) was Brunswick. They had 
their depots and offices at Bruges, at Novgorod, and in all 
the seaports of the Baltic .and German seas. They were suf- 
ficiently powerful to wage war with the Spaniards, and to 
make their fleets respected in all the seas, and were regulated 
by a diet, which issued the laws by which all the cities were 
governed. Cologne was, at first, the chief city or capital of 
the union; but after a long struggle, Lubeck obtained the 
ascendancy. On the destruction of Vinetha, at the mouth of 
the Oder (one of the largest commercial towns of Europe), and 
Julin, in the twelfth century (1170), by the Danes, Ham- 
manburg (Hamburg) and Lubeck became the most flourishing 
towns of Northern Europe, and, a treaty for mutual protection 
324 



§ 56.] COMMERCE. 

against the aggressions of the Danes having been entered into 
by them, they attacked and destroyed the city of Copenhagen, 
1247. The union of these two towns was the origin of the 
great German Hansa, which, in the thirteenth century, ex- 
tended its commercial connexions as far as England, where a 
Guild Hall was erected for the transaction of their affairs. 
Flanders, Danemark, Pomerania, Livonia, and Italy, were all 
so many centres of the great Hansa, which existed feebly down 
to the seventeenth century. 

The Inland Commerce between the East and the 
West was carried on through the medium of the Rhine and 
the Danube ; that between Northern Germany and Italy 
(from Danzyk and Kiov as far as to Venice), was by the 
privileged citizens of Vienna and Ratisbon, Nuremburg and 
Augsberg. An extensive intermediate trade between the 
South (Constantinople and Venice) and the North (the Prus- 
sian and Sclavonian countries), was also carried on by the 
inhabitants of Breslau. Towards the close of the middle age, 
the markets and fairs of Frankfort on the Maine acquired a 
high commercial reputation. Vienna, on the Danube, and 
Cologne, on the Rhine, were also chief stations of the inland 
trade, and possessed great commercial privileges and exclusive 
rights. The chief depot of the inland trade of France was 
first at Troyes ; since 1445, the principal market was at 
Lyons. 

The Trades of the towns, owing to the establishment of 
Corporations, or Guilds, enjoyed considerable pros- 
perity, and were extensively engaged in furnishing the supplies 
of the army, and the demands of chivalry. The inhabitants 
rapidly increased in wealth and number, and at length became 
so important, that their rulers vied with the greatest princes 
of Europe. Venice, Florence, Milan, Marseilles, Barcelona, 
Antwerp, and Cologne, were among the towns in which handi- 
craft professions most flourished. 

From the middle of the twelfth century, those who practised the 
same trade began to associate in corporations {guilds) , and in order to 
restrict the exercise of their respective trades to the members of the 
corporation, who regulated their affairs by statutes fixed by themselves, 
and sanctioned by the community, they were not allowed to be carried 
on beyond a certain space from the town, called the ban-mile ; but if 
members carrying on the same trade met in different towns, they were 
considered as confederates, and permitted to enjoy the free exercise of 
their profession: thus these trade corporations eventually extended, 
325 



MIDDLE AGES INVENTIONS, ETC. [§ 56. 

not only beyond the boundaries of the towns, but over the whole 
country. 

The productions of the North, as hemp, flax, timber, potash, corn, 
furs, tar, hides, copper, and the produce of the fisheries, were exchanged 
for the wines, fruits, drugs, and woollen cloths of Europe ; and the 
tapestries, cloths, cotton, and camlets of the Netherlands were brought 
to England, where they were exchanged for raw wooL Italy furnished 
the productions of the countries of the Levant, and the silken and 
other stuffs of the East. Subsequently the Lombards became almost 
the sole merchants of Europe, and had their counting-houses in every 
capital city both of Europe and Western Asia. They enjoyed great 
privileges and immunities, and became the bankers of all the countries 
in which they were established ; to them probably we owe the first 
introduction of bills of exchange and notes into the transactions of 
commerce. 

The close of the middle age, and the beginning of the modern, gave 
birth to many other important inventions besides those which have 
been noticed above: — 1. The art of Engraving on Copper, 
ascribed to a Florentine goldsmith (Finneguerra — 1460). 2. Cop- 
per-plate Printing, which, before the close of the fifteenth cen- 
tury, followed the invention of engraving on plates. 3. Engraving 
on Wood (practised by Schcen of Colmar, 1486). 4. The invention 
of Grunpowder, and the introduction of Canno n, known to have 
been used in the Moorish wars against the Spaniards, in the middle 
of the fourteenth century. 5. The introduction of the Mariner's 
Compass into Europe by the Portuguese in the twelfth century. 



326 



CHKONOLOGICAL TABLE 



B. C. 

113 — 101. Wars of the Cimbri and Teutones against the Romans. 
58 — 57. Wars between Ariovistus and Julius Csesar, for the Dominion of 
Gaul. — The Germans driven across the Rhine, at the battle of 
Vesontio (Besancon). 
15. Rhcetia, Vindelicia, and Noricum united to the Roman empire by 
the Victories of Drusus and Tiberius. 
12 — 9. Campaigns of Drusus in Germania Proper. — Tiberius unites the 
Nations from tbe Rhine to the Elbe, and persuades them to 
acknowledge the Roman sovereignty. 

A. D. 

9. The Liberation of the Germans from the Roman sway, by the 

Victories of Arminius, who enticed Varus into the Teutobergian 
forest, and defeated the Roman armies. 
14 — 17. Campaign of Germanicus to recover the lost provinces in Germany. 

Wars between Arminius and Marbod. 
69 — 70. Batavian war of liberation. 
106 — 180. Wars of the Marcomanni and Quadi. 

375. Migrations of the nations — Gothic invasion. 
378. Wars of the Goths, Huns, and Alans — Defeat of Valens at 
Adrianople. 
395-1453. Eastern, or Byzantine empire. 
407 — 553. Burgundian kingdom in Gaul. 

409. The Vandals and Alans in Spain. 
409 — 585. Suevic kingdom established in Spain. 

410. Rome occupied and plundered by Alaric. 
445. Landing of the Angles and Saxons in Britain. 

451. The Invasion of Gaul by Attila, and his defeat at the Catalaunian 

plain, by iEtius, the Roman general, assisted by Theodoric, the 
king of the West Goths, who fell in the engagement. 

452. Invasion of Italy by Attila — Venice founded by the Veneti, who 

escaped to the Lagunes of the Adriatic. 
455. Rome plundered by the Vandals, under Geiserich. 

476. Fall, of the Western Roman empire. 

327 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



THE MIDDLE AGES. 

First Period. — From the fall op the Western Empire to the 
accession op the carlovingians and abassides, 476 — 750. 

A. D. 

476 — 493. The Italian empire of Odoaeer. 

493 — 555. Empire of the Ostro-Goths, in Italy. 

496. Battle of Ziilpich (Chlodvig's death). 

507. Southern France taken from the Visi-Goths, by Chlodvig, after 

their defeat at the plains of Vougle. 
527 — 565. Justinian I. — Legislation — Nika — Architecture — Destruction of 

the Vandal empire by Belisarius. 
513 — 712. Elective Visi-Gothic monarchy in Spain. 

533. Kingdoms of Thuringia and Burgundy united to Spain. 

534. Empire of the Vandals overthrown by Belisarius. 

535 — 555. War between the Ostro-Goths (under Totilas and Tejas) and the 

Byzantines (under Belisarius and Narses) — Borne occupied at 

five different times by the Barbarians. 
555 — 568. Italy subject to the Byzantine, or Greek empire. 
558 — 561. The Frankish monarchy re-united under Clotaire I. 
562. The Frankish empire divided among the four sons of Clotaire I. 

613. The Frankish empire re-united under Clotaire II. 

568 — 774. Lombard kingdom founded in Upper and Central Italy, by Alboin. 
622. Flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina — The He'gira 

(Hedschra). 
632. Death of Mohammed. 

632 — 661. The four caliphs of the Koreisch race, viz., Abu-Bekr, Omar, 

Othman, and Ali — Conquest of Syria, Palestine, Phoenicia, 

Egypt, the northern coast of Africa, with Cyprus and Ehodes — 

The Persian empire. 
661 — 750. The thirteen Ommaiyad caliphs — Great extension of the Arabian 

empire. 

711. Tarik's victory over the Visi-Goths, at Xeres de la Frontera. 

712. The whole of Spain in possession of the Arabians, with the 

exception of the Christian state of Asturia. 
716 — 754. Bonifacius in Germany. 
734. Charles Martel's victory over the Arabians, between Tours and 

Poictiers. 
750. Assassination of the Ommaiyades. 

328 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



Second Period. — To the time of the Crusades, 1100. 

750 — 1258. The Abassidian caliphs. 

752 — 911 (987). The Carlovingians. 

752 — 768. The Carlovingians — Pepin the Short — Two expeditions into 

Italy for the protection of the Pope against the Lombard 

king, Adolf (Astolphus). 
756 — 1028. Cordova an independent caliphate. 
768 — 814. Charlemagne (Charles the Great). 
771. Charlemagne sole monarch, by the death of Carloman. 

772 — 804. Wars against the Saxons. 

773 — 774. Conquest of Lombardy by Charlemagne. 

778- War in Spain — Defeat of the Mohammedan governors on this 

side the Ebro — Disastrous retreat through the valley of Ron- 

cesvaux — Death of Roland. 
787 — 788. Dissolution of the duchy of Bavaria — Death of Tassilo. 
791 — 799. Wars against the Avars — Extension of the empire to the banks 

of the Theiss — Subjugation of the Sclavish tribes on the eastern 

frontier of the empire. 
800. Eestoration of the Western Roman empire — Charlemagne receives 

the imperial crown at Rome. 
814 — 840. Lewis the Pious — Division of the empire among his three sons. 
827 — 1016. Kingdoms founded by the West Saxons in England. 
840—1370. The Piasts in Poland. 

843. Division of the Frankish empire by the treaty of Verdun. 

864 — 1598. The dynasty of Rurik, in Russia. 
867 — 1056. Macedonian emperors at Constantinople. 
871— 901. Alfred the Great. 
887. Charles the Fat deposed — Final division of the Frankish empire 

into five portions. 

887 — 987. The last Carlovingians in France. 

887. Arnulf of Carinthia — Defeat of the Normans near Louvain 

— Arnulf forms an alliance with the Magyars against Zwen- 
tibald. 

888 — 962. Italy under native sovereigns. 
889 — 1301. The Arpads in Hungary. 
About 900. Four Scandinavian kingdoms. 

900 — 911. Louis the Child — Invasion of Germany by the Hungarians. 
911 — 918. Conrad of Franconia — His authority disputed by the 

princes — Lotharingia annexed to France — Irruptions of the 

Hungarians. 
329 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
A. D. 

919 — 1024. Saxon emperors. 

919 — 936. Henry I. — The empire re-united — Lotharingia restored to 
Germany — Nine years' truce with the Hungarians — Military 
improvements — Subjugation of Bohemia and the Wendish 
tribes, as far as the Oder — Defeat of the Hungarians at 
Merseburg. 
936— 973. Otho I. (the Great). 

951. First Italian campaign — Berenger a vassal of the German empire. 

955. Defeat of the Hungarians on the bank of the Lech — The Scla- 

vonians subdued, and the extension of the German empire to 
the Vistula. 
962. Otho's Roman expedition — Crowned at Rome, by the title of 

Emperor of the West — Berenger taken prisoner, and banished. 
966 — 972. Third Italian campaign — War with the Greeks, in Lower Italy. 
973 — 983. Otho II. — War with Lothaire of France, for the possession of 
Lotharingia, and the defeat in Lower Italy, which was ceded 
to the Greek emperor — Death of Otho. 
983 — 1002. Otho III. — Rebellion of Henry, duke of Bavaria — Otho crowned 

at Rome — Victory over the Obotrites. 
987 — 1328. The Capetian kings in France. 
1002 — 1024. Henry II. — The Margrave Hardwin of Ivrea — Wars against the 

Poles — The Italian war. 
1002. Massacre of the Danes in England. 

1016—1042. The Danes subdue all England — Canute. 
1024 — 1125. Fkanconian emperors. 

1024 — 1039. Conrad II. — Burgundy united to the empire — The March of 
Schleswig ceded to the Danes — Hereditary feudalism 
established. 
1039 — 1056. Henry III. — Greatest extension of the empire — Truce of God, 
" Treuga Dei," in Aquitania — Deposition of the Popes, for 
Simony. 
1042 — 1066. Restoration of the Anglo-Saxon kings in England. 
1056 — 1106. Henry IV. — Regency of the Empress Agnes — Administration of 

the archbishops of Cologne and Bremen. 
1066 — 1154. Norman kings in England. 
1073—1075. The revolt of the Saxons. 
1073 — 1085. Disputes with Pope Gregory VII. and the German princes, 

respecting the right of Investiture. 
1077. Henry IV. and Gregory VII. at Carnossa. 

1094. The county of Portugal. 

330 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
A. D. 

Third Period. — Period of the Crusades, 1096 — 1273. 
1096 — 1100. The first Crusade — Peter the Hermit, of Amiens — The 
councils of the Church — The taking of Nicsea and Antiochia. 

1099. Jerusalem taken by the Crusaders — Godfrey de Bouillon elected 

king — Battle of Asealon. 
1099 — 1187. Kingdom of Jerusalem. 

1100. Death of Godfrey de Bouillon. 
1106—1125. Henry V. 

1122. End of the dispute respecting Investiture by the Concordat of 

"Worms. 
1125 — 1137. Lothaire the Saxon — Bavaria and Saxony united under the 

house of Guelph — Disputes with the Hohenstaufen for the crown. 
1130 — 1194. The kingdoms of the Two Sicilies under Norman dukes. 
1138—1254. The Hohenstaufen. 
1138 — 1152. Conrad III. — Henry the Proud deprived of his dukedom of 

Bavaria — Siege of Weinsberg. 
1147 — 1149. Second Crusade — Edessa taken by the Turks — Conrad III. 

and Louis VII. unsuccessful in Palestine — Return of the 

two kings to their own dominions. 
1152 — 1190. Frederick (II.) Barbarossa — His first Italian campaign 

— Execution of Arnold of Brescia — Eestoration of Bavaria 

to Henry the Lion. 
1154 — 1139. England under the house of Plantagenet. 
1158 — 1162. Frederick (I.) second Italian campaign — The Milanese subdued 

— Diet on the Eoncaglian plain — Destruction of Milan. 
1166. Frederick's third campaign, for the purpose of placing Paschal 

III. on the papal throne — Returns without his army — 

Alessandria founded. 
1174 — 1178. Fifth Italian campaign — Defection of Henry the Lion. 
1176. Frederick defeated at Legnano. 

1183. Peace concluded at Constance, between Frederick and the 

Lombards — Henry the Lion placed under the ban of the 

empire, and his domains divided. 

1186. Sixth Italian campaign — Frederick's son Henry marries Con- 

stanza, heiress of the Two Sicilies. 

1187. Defeat of the Christians at Hittim, by the Turks, who seize 

Jerusalem. 
1189 — 1193. Third Crusade — Death of Frederick Barbarossa — The 
Teutonic order instituted in the camp before Accon — Dis- 
putes between Philip II. and Richard Coeur de Lion — Truce 
with Saladin — Captivity of Richard. 
331 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
A. D. 

1190 — 1197. Henry VI. — His cruelty in Apulia and Sicily. 

1194 — 1266. Kingdom of the Two Sicilies under the Hohenstaufen. 

1198 — 1208. Philip of Suabia and Otho IV. — Ten years' dispute terminated 

by the assassination of Philip by Otho of Wittelspach. 
1200—1204. The fourth (so called) Crusade — The Crusaders visit 

Constantinople for the purpose of re-placing the Emperor 

Isaac on the throne — They quarrel with the Emperor — 

Constantinople taken. 
1204 — 1261. The Latin empire — Division of the empire — Sovereignties 

of Nicasa and Trebizond. 
1206. Temud-schin becomes Tschinghis (or Great) Khan — Religious 

wars in the South of France — The Cathari and Waldenses. 
1208 — 1215. Otho IV. sole emperor — Engages in a quarrel with the Pope. 

1215. Magna Charta Libertatum in England. 
1215 — 1250. Frederick II. — His disputes with the Pope respecting the 

union of the German crown with that of Sicily, and his 

Crusade to the Holy Land. 
1228. Crusade of Frederick II. — Treaty with the Egyptian sultan 

Camel, and the restoration of Jerusalem to the Christians. 
1230 — 1283. War between the German (Teutonic) order and the Prussians. 
1237. Frederick's victory over the Lombards at Cortenuovo. 

1241. Victory of the Mongols at Wahlstatt — Invasion of Hungary — 

William of Holland. 
1248. Sixth Crusade — Louis IX. in Egypt. 

1250—1256. Conrad IV. (f 1254) and William of Holland. 
1256 — 1273. The Interregnum in Germany — Richard of Cornwall and 

Alfonso of Castile. 
1258. End of the Arabian caliphate in Bagdad. 

1266. The victory of Charles of Anjou over Manfred, near Benevento — - 

Naples and Sicily subdued. 
1268. Conradin defeated near Scurcola, and afterwards executed at 

Naples. 
1270. Seventh Crusade — Louis IX. dies before Tunis. 

• Fourth Period. — From the end of the Crusades to the 
discovery of America, 1273 — 1492. 
1273 — 1291. Rudolph of Hapsburg — War with Ottocar of Bohemia — 
Accession of Austria, Styria, Steyermack, and Carinthia, 
by the house of Hapsburg. 
1282. Sicilian Vespers — Expulsion of the French from Sicily — The 

Sicilian Vespers. 
332 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
A. D. 

1291. Accon, the last of the Christian possessions in Palestine, lost. 

1292 — 1298. Adolph of Nassau — War with the sons of Albrecht the 

Degenerate, of Thuringia — Albert of Austria opposes the 

Emperor — Adolph slain at the battle of the Knights, at 

Goelheim, near Worms. 
1298 — 1308. Albert I. of Austria — Wars with the mountaineers of 

Switzerland. 
1305. The Papal see transferred to Avignon (The captivity). 

1307. The Swiss confederation formed — " The Eidgenossen." 

1308. Albert assassinated by his nephew, Duke John of Kyburg 

(Parricida). 
1308 — 1313. Henry VII. of Luxembourg — Bohemia united to the Ger- 
man crown — Henry crowned King of the Romans. 

1309. The capital of the German (Teutonic) order transferred to 

Marienburg. 

1312. Extermination of the Knight Templars in France. 

1313—1347 (1330). Louis IV. of Bavaria and Frederick of Austria 
both elected to the empire, and crowned kings of the Romans. 

1315. Leopold of Austria defeated by the Swiss, at Montgarten. 

1322. Battle of Muhldorf — Frederick taken prisoner — Louis and 

Frederick agree to reign conjointly. 

1324. Louis takes possession of Brandenburg — Louis excommunicated 

by the Pope for assisting the Ghibelines of Lombardy. 

1328 — 1498. Elder line of the house of Valois, in France. 

1338. The electoral diet at Frankfort declares the Emperor inde- 

pendent of the Pope : it is afterwards ratified at Rense. 

1339—1453. War between France and England, in consequence of the claims 
of the king of England to the French throne— Victories of the 
English at Sluys, Crecy, Maupertuis (Poictiers), and Agincourt. 

1347 — 1437. German kings of the house of Bohemia (Luxem- 
bourg.) 

1347. Charles IV. 

1348. First German university founded at Prague. 
1356. The Golden Bull. 

1378 — 1400. Wenzel, or Wenceslaus, establishes a peace throughout the 

German States, for six years. 
1 386. Victory of the Swiss at Sempach, through the heroic self-devotion 

of Arnold of Winkelried. 
1388. The freedom of the Swiss cities secured. 

1397. The union of Calmar. 

1399 — 1461. The house of Lancaster in England. 
333 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
A. D. 

1400 — 1418. Kupert, the Count Palatinate, fails in an expedition against 

Wenceslaus, in Bohemia, and is unsuccessful in Italy 
1410—1437. Sigismund. 
1414 — 1418. Council op Constance — Suppression of the papal schism 

(the three rival Popes), and the extirpation of heresy — The 

Hussites of Bohemia. 
1415. Martyrdom of John Huss and Jerome of Prague. 

1417. The March of Brandenburg granted as a fief to the Burgrave, 

Frederick VI. of Nuremburg, or Numburg, of the house of 

Hohenzollern, for 400,000 ducats. 
1419 — 1436. The Hussite war, under John Zisca (f 1424) — Sigismund 

resigns Bohemia, after five unsuccessful campaigns, and on 

the defeat of the papal legate, Cardinal Julia, the Eomans 

agree to sign a convention between the insurgents and the 

council of Basle, at Prague. 
1429 — 1431. Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, put to death by the English. 
1438 — 1506. Emperors of the house of Austria. 
1438 — 1439. Albert II. — Unfortunate expedition against the Turks, under 

Amurath. 
1440—1493. Frederick III. 

1453. Conquest of Constantinople by the Osman Turks. 

1459 — 1485. Wars of the red and white Koses in England (Houses of York 

and Lancaster). 
1461 — 1485. England under the house of York. 
1466. West Prussia united to Poland, and East Prussia held as a fief. 

1476. Charles the Bold, of Burgundy, defeated at Granson and 

Morat. 

1477. Charles of Burgundy slain at Nancy — The Netherlands and 

Burgundy come into the possession of the house of Austria. 
1486. Diaz discovers the Cape of Good Hope (Cabo Tormentosa). 

1492. Columbus discovers America. 



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